A 

^^h 

0 

n 

^^^s^ 

0 

^^S^ 

M 

^^BS^O 

— «B^<.) 

H 

Shmm^b^ 

8 

^^g 

5 

"=> 

9 

^=^^s^  -n 

SS^^S^Ci 

9 

^^=':h 

0 


AN 


ALARM 


UNCONVERTED  SINNERS; 


A  SERIOUS   TREATISE 


CONVERSION. 


BY  REV.  JOSEPH  ALLEINE. 


BZTJSXO    AVS    ASRISaXO. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

AMERICAN   TRACT   SOCIETY, 

150  NASSAU-STREET,   NEW   YORE. 


r.n^ 


In  the  revision  of  this  work  numerous  obsolete  or  defective 
words  or  phrases  have  been  altered,  and  some  passages,  in- 
cluding a  few  referring  to  denominational  peculiarities,  have 
been  omitted. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

PACK. 

An  Earnest  Invitation  to  Sinners  to  turn  to  God,  ...      5 

CHAPTER  I. 
Showing  what  Conversion  is  not,  and  Correcting  some 
Mistakes  about  it, 9 

CHAPTER  II. 
Showing  positively  what  Conversion  is, 19 

CHAPTER  III. 
Of  the  Necessity  of  Conversion, 54 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Showing  the  Marks  of  the  Unconverted^ 80 

CHAPTER  V. 
Showing  the  Miseries  of  the  Unconverted, 98 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Containing  Directions  to  the  Unconverted, 127 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Containing  the  Motives  to  Conversion, 1G3 

Conclusion, 179 


Digitized  by  tiie  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/alarmtounconvertOOalleiala 


ALARM 


UNCONVERTED  SINNERS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

An  earnest  Invitation  to  Sinners  to  torn  to  God. 

Dearly  beloved,  I  gladly  acknowledge  myself  a 
debtor  to  you,  and  am  concerned,  as  I  -would  be 
found  a  good  steward  of  the  household  of  God,  to 
give  to  every  one  his  portion.  But  the  physician 
is  most  solicitous  for  those  patients  whose  case  is 
most  doubtful  and  hazardous ;  and  the  father's  pity 
is  especially  turned  towards  his  dying  child.  So 
unconverted  souls  call  for  earnest  compassion  and 
prompt  diligence  to  pluck  them  as  brands  from  the 
burning,  Jude  23  ;  therefore  to  them  I  shall  first 
apply  myself  in  these  pages. 

But  whence  shall  I  fetch  my  argument  ?  Where- 
with shall  I  win  them?  0  that  I  could  tell.  I 
would  write  to  them  in  tears,  I  would  weep  out 
every  argument,  I  would  empty  my  veins  fo»ink,  I 


6  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

would  petition  them  on  my  knees.  0  how  thank- 
ful should  I  be  if  they  would  be  prevailed  with  to 
repent  and  turn. 

How  long  have  I  labored  for  you !  How  often 
would  I  have  gathered  you !  This  is  what  I  have 
prayed  for  and  studied  for  these  many  years,  that  I 
might  bring  you  to  God.  0  that  I  might  now  d,o 
it.     Will  you  yet  be  entreated  ? 

But,  Lord,  how  insuflScient  am  I  for  this  work. 
Alas,  wherewith  shall  I  pierce  the  scales  of  Levia- 
than, or  make  the  heart  feel  that  it  is  hard  as  the 
nether  millstone?  Shall  I  go  and  speak  to  the 
grave,  and  expect  the  dead  will  obey  me  and  come 
forth  ?  Shall  I  make  an  oration  to  the  rocks,  or 
declaim"  to  the  mountains,  and  think  to  move  them 
with  arguments  ?  Shall  I  give  the  blind  to  see  ? 
From  the  beginning  of  the  world  was  it  not  heard 
that  a  man  opened  the  eyes  of  the  blind ;  but  thou, 
0  Lord,  canst  pierce  the  heart  of  the  sinner ;  I  can 
but  draw  the  bow  at  a  venture,  but  do  thou  direct 
the  arrow  between  the  joints  of  the  harness,  slay  the 
sin,  and  save  the  soul  of  the  sinner  that  casts  his 
eyes  on  these  pages. 

There  is  no  entering  into  heaven  but  by  the  strait 
passage  of  the  second  birth ;  without  holiness  you 
shall  never  see  God.  Now  give  yourselves  unto  the 
Lord.  Now  set  yourselves  to  seek  him.  Now  set 
up  the  Lord  Jesus  in  your  hearts,  and  set  him  up  in 
your  Ijpuses.     Kiss  the  Son,  Psalm  2:12,  and  em- 


INTEOmJCnON.  7 

brace  the  tenders  of  mercy ;  touch  his  sceptre  and 
live ;  for  why  will  ye  die  ?  I  beg  not  for  myself, 
but  would  have  you  happy :  this  is  the  prize  I  run 
for.  My  soul's  desire  and  prayer  for  you  is,  that 
you  may  be  saved.  Rom.  10:1.  What  greater  joy 
to  a  minister  than  to  hear  of  souls  bom  unto  Christ? 

I  beseech  you  suffer  friendly  plainness  and  free- 
dom with  you  in  your  deepest  concern.  I  am  not 
playing  ,the  orator ;  these  Unes  are  upon  a  weighty 
errand  indeed — to  convince,  to  convert,  and  to  save 
you.  If  I  would  quiet  a  crying  infant,  I  might  sing 
to  him  in  a  pleasing  mood,  and  rock  him  asleep  ;  but 
when  the  child  is  fallen  into  the  fire,  the  parent  takes 
another  course ;  he  will  not  try  to  still  him  with  a 
song  or  a  trifle.  I  know,  if  we  speed  not  with  you, 
you  are  lost ;  if  we  cannot  get  your  consent  to  "  arise 
and  come  away,"  you  perish  forever:  no  conversion, 
and  no  salvation:  we  must  get  your  good-wUl,  or 
leave  you  miserable. 

But  here  the  difiSculty  of  my  work  again  recurs 
upon  me.  Lord,  choose  my  stones  out  of  the  brook. 
1  Sam.  17 :  40, 45.  I  come  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
of  hosts,  the  God  of  the  armies  of  Israel.  I  come 
forth,  like  the  stripling  David,  to  wrestle,  not  with 
flesh  and  blood,  but  with  principahties  and  powers, 
and  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world.  Eph.  6:12. 
This  day  let  the  Lord  smite  the  Philistines,  spoil  the 
strong  man  of  his  armor,  and  give  me  the  captives 
out  of  his  hand.     Lord,  choose  my  words/  choose 


8  ALLEINE'S  ALAKM. 

my  weapons  for  me ;  and  when  I  put  my  hand  into 
the  bag,  and  take  thence  a  stone  and  shng  it,  do 
thou  carry  it  to  the  mark,  and  make  it  sink,  not  into 
the  forehead,  but  into  the  heart  of  the  unconverted 
sinner,  and  smite  him  to  the  ground  Hke  Saul  of 
Tarsus.     Acts  9:4. 

But  I  turn  me  unto  you.  Some  of  you  do  not 
know  what  I  mean  by  conversion,  and  in  vain  shall 
I  attempt  to  persuade  you  to  that  which  yqu  do  not 
understand ;  therefore  for  your  sakes  I  will  show 
what  this  conversion  is. 

Others  cherish  secret  hopes  of  mercy,  though  they 
continue  as  they  are ;  and  for  them  I  must  show  the 
necessity  of  conversion. 

Others  are  like  to  harden  themselves  with  a  vain 
conceit  that  they  are  converted  already ;  to  them  I 
must  show  the  marks  of  the  unconverted. 

Others,  because  they  feel  no  harm,  fear  none,  and 
so  sleep  as  upon  the  top  of  a  mast ;  to  them  I  shall 
show  the  misery  of  the  unconverted. 

Others  sit  still,  because  they  see  not  their  way 
of  escape  ;  to  them  I  shall  show  the  means  of  con- 
version. 

And  finally,  for  the  quickening  of  all,  I  shall  close 
with  the  motives  to  conversion. 


MISTAKES  ABOUT  CONVERSION.  9 

CHAPTER  I. 

Showing  what  Conversion  is  not,  and  correcting  some  mis- 
takes about  it. 

Let  the  blind  Samaritans  "worship  they  know  not 
what.  John  4  :  22.  Let  the  heathen  Athenians  in- 
scribe their  altar  "To  the  unknown  God."  Acts 
17  :  22.  Let  Papists  commend  ignorance  as  the 
mother  of  devotion.  They  that  know  man's  consti- 
tution, and  the  nature  of  the  reasonable  soul,  cannot 
but  know  that  the  understanding  has  such  empire 
in  the  soul,  that  he  who  will  go  rationally  to  work 
must  labor  to  let  in  light  there.  And  therefore, 
that  you  may  not  mistake  me,  I  shall  first  show 
what  I  mean  by  the  conversion  I  persuade  you  to 
endeavor  after. 

Truly,  my  beloved,  the  devil  hath  made  many 
counterfeits  of  conversion,  and  cheats  one  with  this, 
and  another  with  that ;  and  such  craft  and  artifice 
he  hath  in  his  mystery  of  deceits,  that,  if  it  were 
possible,  he  would  deceive  the  very  elect.  Now, 
that  I  may  cure  the  ruinous  mistake  of  some  who 
think  they  are  converted  when  they  are  not,  as  well 
as  remove  the  troubles  and  fears  of  others,  who  think 
they  are  not  converted  when  they  are,  I  shall  show 

you   THE    NATURE    OF   CONVERSION,  BOTH  WHAT   IT  IS 
NOT,  AND  WHAT  IT  IS. 

We  will  begin  with  the  negative. 


10  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

It  is  not  the  taking  upon  us  the  prof  ession  of  Chris- 
tianity. Christianity  is  more  than  a  name.  If  we 
will  hear  Paul,  it  lies  not  in  word,  but  in  power.  1 
Cor.  4  :  20.  If  to  cease  to  be  Jews  and  Pagans,  and 
to  put  on  the  Christian  profession,  had  been  true 
conversion — as  this  is  all  that  some  would  have  to 
be  understood  by  it — Avho  better  Christians  than 
they  of  Sardis  and  Laodicea  ?  These  were  all  Chris- 
tians by  profession,  and  had  a  name  to  live  only :  but 
because  they  had  a  name,  they  are  condemned  by 
Christ,  and  threatened  to  be  rejected.  Rev.  3:1, 
16.  Are  there  not  many  that  name  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  that  yet  depart  not  from  iniquity,  2  Tim. 
2 :  19,  and  "profess  they  know  God,  but  in  works 
deny  him  ?"  Titus  1 :  16.  And  will  God  receive 
these  for  true  converts  ?  What,  converts  from  sin, 
when  yet  they  live  in  sin  ?  It  is  a  visible  contradic- 
tion. Surely,  if  the  lamp  of  profession  would  have 
served  the  turn,  the  foolish  virgins  had  never  been 
shut  out.  Matt.  25  :  12.  We  find  not  only  profes- 
sors, but  preachers  of  Christ,  and  wonder-workers, 
rejected,  because  evil-workers.     Matt.  1 :  22,  23. 

It  is  not  putting  on  the  badge  of  Christ  in  bap- 
tism. Ananias,  and  Sapphira,  and  Simon  Magus 
were  baptized  as  well  as  the  rest.  How  fondly  do 
many  mistake  here,  deceiving  and  being  deceived ; 
dreaming  that  effectual  grace  is  necessarily  tied  to 
the  external  administration  of  baptism — which,  what 
is  it  but  to  revive  the  popish  tenet  of  the  sacraments 


MISTAKES  ABOUT  CONVERSION.  H 

•working  grace  ? — and  thus,  that  every  baptized  per- 
son is  regenerated,  not  only  sacramentally,  but  really 
and  properly.  Hence,  men  fancy,  that  being  regen- 
erated already  when  baptized,  they  need  no  farther 
work.  But  if  this  were  so,  then  all  that  have  been 
baptized  must  necessarily  be  saved,  because  the 
promise  of  pardon  and  salvation  is  made  to  conver- 
sion and  regeneration.  Acts  3:19;  Matt.  19 :  28. 
And  indeed,  were  conversion  and  baptism  the  same, 
then  men  would  do  well  to  carry  but  a  certificate 
of  their  baptism  when  they  died,  and  upon  sight  of 
this  there  were  no  doubt  of  their  admission  into 
heaven. 

In  short,  if  there  be  no  more  necessary  to  conver- 
sion, or  regeneration,  than  to  be  baptized,  this  will  fly 
directly  in  the  face  of  that  scripture,  Matthew  7:13, 
14,  as  well  as  midtitudes  of  others ;  for,  first,  we 
shall  then  no  more  say,  "  Strait  is  the  gate,  and  nar- 
row is  the  way ;"  for  if  all  that  were  baptized  are 
saved,  the  door  is  exceeding  wide,  and  we  shall 
henceforth  say,  "Wide  is  the  gate,  and  broad  is  the 
way  that  leadeth  unto  life."  If  this  be  true,  thou- 
sands may  go  in  abreast ;  and  we  will  no  more  teach 
that  the  righteous  are  scarcely  saved,  or  that  there 
is  need  of  such  a  stir  in  taking  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
by  violence,  and  striving  to  enter  in.  Surely,  if  the 
way  be  so  easy  as  many  suppose,  that  there  is  httle 
more  necessary  than  to  be  baptized  and  to  cry, 
"Lord,  have  mercy,"  we  need  not  put  ourselves  to 


13  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

such  seeking,  and  knocking,  and  "wrestling,  as  the 
word  reqxiires  in  order  to  salvation.  Secondly,  if 
this  be  true,  we  shall  no  more  say,  "  Few  there  be 
that  find  it ;"  yea,  we  will  rather  say,  "  Few  there  be 
that  miss  it."  We  shall  no  more  say,  that  of  the 
"many"  that  are  "called,  but  few  are  chosen," 
Matt.  22: 14,  and  that  even  of  the  professing  "Is- 
rael but  a  remnant  shall  be  saved."  Rom.  9  :  27. 
If  this  doctrine  be  true,  we  shall  not  say  any  more 
with  the  disciples,  "  Who  then  shall  be  saved  ?"  but 
rather,  "  Who  then  shall  not  be  saved  ?"  Then,  if  a 
man  be  baptized,  though  he  be  a  fornicator,  or  a 
railer  or  covetous,  or  a  drunkard,  yet  he  shall  inherit 
the  kingdom  of  God,     1  Cor.  6:11,  and  6  :  9,  10. 

But  some  will  reply,  Such  as  these,  though  they 
did  receive  regenerating  grace  in  baptism,  are  since 
fallen  away,  and  must  be  renewed  again,  or  else  they 
cannot  be  saved. 

I  answer,  1.  There  is  an  infallible  connection  be- 
tween regeneration  and  salvation,  as  we  have  already 
shown.  2.  Then  man  must  be  bom  agiain  a  second 
time,  which  carries  a  great  deal  of  absurdity  in  its 
face :  and  why  may  not  men  be  twice  bom  in  nature 
as  well  as  in  grace  ?  But,  3,  and  above  all,  this 
grants,  however,  the  thing  I  contend  for,  that  what- 
ever men  do  or  pretend  to  receive  in  baptism,  if  they 
be  found  afterwards  to  be  grossly  ignorant,  or  pro- 
fane, or  formal,  without  the  power  of  godliness,  they 
"must  be  born  again,"  or  else  be  shut  out  of  the 


MISTAKES  ABOUT  <X)NVERSIOX.  13 

Idngdom  of  God.  So  then  they  must  have  more  to 
plead  for  themselves  than  their  baptismal  regenera- 
tion. 

Well,  in  this  you  see  all  are  agreed,  that,  be  it 
more  or  less  that  is  reroived  in  baptism,  if  men  are 
evidently  unsanctified,  they  must  be  renewed  again 
by  a  thorough  and  powerful  change,  or  else  they 
cannot  escape  the  damnation  of  hell.  "  Be  not  de- 
ceived; God  is  not  mocked."  Whether  it  be  yoxir 
baptism,  or  whatever  else  you  pretend,  I  tell  you 
from  the  living  God,  that  if  any  of  you  be  a  prayer- 
less  person,  or  xmclean,  or  mahcious,  or  covetous,  or 
riotous,  or  a  scoflFer,  or  a  lover  of  evil  company, 
Prov.  13  :  20,  in  a  word,  if  you  are  not  a  holy,  strict, 
and  self-denying  Christian,  you  cannot  be  saved. 
Heb.  12:14;  Matt.  15:14. 

Paul,  while  imconverted,  touching  the  righteous- 
ness which  is  in  the  law,  was  blameless.  Phil.  3  :  6. 
The  Pharisee  could  say,  "  I  am  no  extortioner,  adul- 
terer, \mjust,"  etc.  Thou  must  have  something  more 
than  all  this  to  show,  Luke  18  :  11,  or  else,  however 
thou  mayest  justify  thyself,  God  will  condemn  thee. 
I  condemn  not  morality,  but  warn  thee  not  to  rest 
in  it;  piety  includes  morahty,  as  Christianity  doth 
humanity,  and  grace,  reason ;  but  we  must  not  divide 
the  tables. 

It  is  also  manifest  that  men  may  have  a  form  of 
godliness,  without  the  power.  2  Tim.  3:5.  Men 
may  pray  long,  Matt.  23  :  14  ;  and  fast  often,  Luke 


14  ALLEINE'S  ALAKM. 

18:12;  and  hear  gladly,  Mark  6:20;  and  be  very 
forward  in  the  service  of  God,  though  costly  and 
expensive,  Isa.  1:11;  and  yet  be  strangers  to  con- 
version. They  must  have  more  to  plead  for  them- 
selves than  that  they  go  to  chuixh,  give  alms,  and 
make  use  of  prayer,  to  prove  themselves  sound 
converts.  There  is  no  outward  service  but  a  hypo- 
crite may  do  it,  even  to  the  "giving  all  his  goods  to 
feed  the  poor,  and  his  body  to  be  burned."  1  Cor. 
13:3. 

Conversion  is  not  the  mere  chaining  up  of  corrup- 
tion by  education,  human  laws,  or  the  force  of  afflic- 
tion. It  is  too  common  and  easy  to  mistake  educa- 
tion for  grace  ;  but  if  this  were  enough,  who  a  bet- 
ter man  than  Jehoash?  While  Jehoida,  his  uncle, 
lived,  he  was  very  forward  in  God's  service,  and  calls 
upon  him  to  repair  the  house  of  the  Lord,  2  Kings, 
12  :  2,  7 ;  but  here  was  nothing  more  than  good 
education  all  this  while ;  for  whdn  his  good  tutor 
was  taken  out  of  the  way,  he  appears  to  have  been 
but  a  wolf  chained  up,  and  falls  into  idolatry. 

In  short,  conversion  consists  not  in  illumination  or 
conviction,  in  a  superficial  change  or  partial  reforma- 
tion. An  apostate  may  be  an  enlightened  man,  Heb. 
6:4;  and  a  Felix  tremble  imder  conviction,  Acts 
24  :  25  ;  and  a  Herod  do  many  things,  Mark  6  :  20. 
It  is  one  thing  to  have  sin  alarmed  only  by  con^•lc- 
tions,  and  another  to  have  it  crucified  by  converting 
grace.     Many,  because  they  have  been  troubled  in 


MISTAKES  ABOUT  CONVERSION.  IS 

conscience  for  their  sins,  think  well  of  their  case, 
miserably  mistaking  conviction  for  conversion.  With 
these,  Cain  might  have  passed  for  a  convert,  who 
ran  up  and  down  the  world  like  a  man  distracted, 
imder  the  rage  of  a  guilty  conscience,  till,  with  build- 
ing and  business,  he  had  stifled  it.  Others  think, 
that  because  they  have  given  over  their  riotous 
courses,  and  are  broken  off  from  evil  company  or 
some  particular  lust,  and  are  reduced  to  sobriety 
and  civihty,  they  are  now  no  other  than  real  con- 
verts ;  forgetting  that  there  is  a  vast  difference  be- 
tween bemg  sanctified  and  civilized  ;  and  that  many 
seek  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  are 
not  far  from  it,  and  arrive  to  the  almost  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  yet  fall  short  at  last.  While  conscience 
holds  the  whip  over  them,  many  will  pray,  hear,  read, 
and  forbear  their  delightful  sins ;  but  no  sooner  is 
the  hon  asleep  than  they  are  at  their  sins  again.  Who 
more  rehgious  than  the  Jews  when  God's  hand  was 
upon  them :  yet  no  sooner  was  the  affliction  over, 
than  they  forgot  God.  Thou  mayst  have  forsaken 
a  troublesome  sin,  and  have  escaped  the  gross  pol- 
lutions of  the  world,  and  yet  in  all  this  not  have 
changed  thy  carnal  nature. 

You  may  cast  lead  out  of  the  rude  mass  into  the 
form  and  features  of  a  man,  yet  all  the  T*-hile  it  is 
but  lead  still ;  so  a  man  may  pass  through  divers 
transmutations,  from  ignorance  to  knowledge,  from 
profaneness  to  civiUty,  and  thence  to  a  form  of  relig* 


16  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

ion,  and  all  this  time  he  is  but  carnal  and  unregen- 
erate  whilst  his  nature  remains  unchanged. 

Hear  then,  0  sinners,  hear  as  you  would  live. 
Why  would  you  wilfully  deceive  yourselves,  or  build 
your  hopes  upon  the  sand  ?  I  know  that  he  may 
find  hard  work  that  goes  to  pluck  away  your  hopes. 
It  cannot  but  be  ungrateful  to  you,  and  truly  it  is 
not  pleasing  to  me.  I  set  about  it  as  a  surgeon 
when  about  to  cut  off  a  mortified  limb  from  his  well- 
beloved  friend,  which  of  necessity  he  must  do,  though 
with  an  aching  heart.  But  understand  me,  beloved, 
I  am  only  taking  down  the  ruinous  house,  which  will 
otherwise  speedily  fall  of  itself  and  bury  you  in  the 
ruins,  that  I  may  build  it  fair,  strong,  and  firm  for 
ever.  The  hope  of  the  wicked  shall  perish.  Prov. 
11:7.  And  hadst  not  thou  better,  0  sinner,  let  the 
word  convince  thee  now  in  time,  and  let  go  thy  false 
and  self-deluding  hopes,  than  have  death  too  late 
open  thine  eyes,  and  find  thyself  in  hell  before  thou 
art  aware  ?  I  should  be  a  false  and  faithless  shep- 
herd if  I  should  not  tell  you,  that  you,  who  have 
built  your  hopes  upon  no  better  grounds  than  these 
before  mentioned,  are  yet  in  your  sins.  Let  con- 
science speak :  What  is  it  that  you  have  to  plead 
for  yourselves  ?  Is  it  that  you  wear  Christ's  livery  ; 
that  you  bear  his  name ;  that  you  are  of  the  visible 
church ;  that  you  have  knowledge  in  the  points  of 
religion,  are  civilized,  perforna  religious  duties,  are 


MISTAKES  ABOUT  CONVERSION.  17 

just  in  yoxir  dealings,  have  been  troubled  in  con- 
science for  your  sins  ?  I  tell  you,  from  the  Lord, 
these  pleas  will  never  be  accepted  at  God's  bar :  all 
this,  though  good  in  itself,  "will  not  prove  you  con- 
verted, and  so  will  not  suffice  to  your  salvation.  O 
look  about  you,  and  bethink  yourselves  of  turning 
speedily  and  entirely.  Study  your  own  hearts ;  rest 
not  till  God  has  made  thorough  work  with  you ;  for 
you  must  be  other  men,  or  else  you  are  lost  men. 

But  if  these  persons  be  short  of  conversion,  what 
shall  I  say  of  the  profane  sinner  ?  It  may  be  he 
will  scarcely  cast  his  eyes  on,  or  lend  his  ear  to  this 
discourse  ;  but  if  there  be  any  such  reading,  or 
within  hearing,  he  must  know  from  the  Lord  that 
jnade  him,  that  he  is  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God. 
May  a  man  keep  company  with  the  wise  virgins, 
and  yet  be  shut  out ;  and  shall  not  a  companion  of 
fools  much  more  be  destroyed  ?  May  a  man  be 
true  in  his  deaUngs,  and  yet  not  be  justified  of  God? 
What  then  will  become  of  thee,  O  wretched  man, 
whose  conscience  tells  thee  thou  art  false  in  thy 
trade,  and  false  to  thy  word,  and  makest  thy  advan- 
tage by  a  lying  tongue  ?  If  men  may  be  enlight- 
ened and  brought  to  the  external  performance  of 
holy  duties,  and  yet  go  down  to  perdition  for  resting 
in  them  and  sitting  down  on  this  side  of  conversion, 
what  will  become  of  you,  0  miserable  families,  that 
live  without  God  in  the  world?  and  of  you,  O 
wretched  sinners,  with  whom  God  is  scarcely  in  all 


19  ALLEINE'S  ALAEM. 

your  ttoughts ;  that  are  so  ignorant  that  you  cannot, 
or  so  careless  that  you  will  not  pray  ?  O  repent 
and  be  converted ;  break  off  your  sins  by  righteous- 
ness ;  away  to  Christ  for  pardoning  and  renewing 
grace ;  give  up  yourselves  to  him,  to  walk  with  him 
in  holiness,  or  you  shall  never  see  God.  0  that 
you  would  take  the  warnings  of  God  !  In  his  name 
I  once  more  admonish  you :  Turn  ye  at  my  reproof. 
Forsake  the  foolish,  and  live.  Be  sober,  righteous, 
and  godly.  Wash  your  hands,  ye  sinners ;  purify 
your  hearts,  ye  double-minded.  Cease  to  do  evil, 
learn  to  do  well.  But  if  you  will  go  on,  you  must 
die. 


THE  NATURE  OP  CONVERSION.  19 

CHAPTER    II. 

SHOWING   POSITIVELY   WHAT   COWVERSION   IS. 

I  MAY  not  leave  you  with  your  eyes  half  open, 
like  him  that  saw  "men  as  trees  walking."  The 
word  is  profitable  for  doctrine  as  well  as  reproof. 
And  therefore,  having  thus  far  conducted  you  by 
the  shelves  and  rocks  of  so  many  dangerous  mis- 
takes, I  would  guide  you  at  length  into  the  haven 
of  truth. 

Conversion  then,  in  short,  lies  in  the  thorough 

CHANGE    BOTH    OF    THE    HEART    AND    LIFE.       I    shall 

briefly  describe  it  in  its  nature  and  causes. 

I.  The  AUTHOR  of  conversion  is  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  therefore  it  is  called  "  the  sanctification  of  the 
Spirit,"  and  "  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost," 
yet  not  excluding  the  other  persons  in  the  Trinity ; 
for  the  apostle  teacheth  us  to  "  bless  the  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  begotten  us  again 
unto  a  lively  hope."  And  Christ  is  said  to  "  give 
repentance  unto  Israel,"  and  is  called  the  "ever- 
lasting Father,"  and  we  his  seed,  and  the  children 
which  God  hath  given  him.  Yet  this  work  is  prin- 
cipally ascribed  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  so  we  arei 
said  to  be  "  bom  of  the  Spirit." 

So  then  regeneration  is  a  work  of  God :  "  We 
are  bom,  not  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will 
of  man,  but  of  God."    John  1:13.     If  ever  thou 


Tta  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

wouldst  be  savingly  converted,  thou  must  despair 
of  doing  it  in  thine  own  strength.  It  is  a  resurrec- 
tion from  the  dead,  Eph.  2  : 1 ;  a  nevy^  creation.  Gal. 
6:15;  Eph.  2:10;  a  vpork  of  absolute  omnipotence, 
Eph.  1 :  19.  If  thou  hast  no  more  than  thou  hadst 
by  thy  first  birth,  a  good  nature,  a  meek  and  chaste 
temper,  etc.,  thou  art  a  stranger  to  true  conversion: 
this  is  a  supernatural  work. 

II.  The  EFFICIENT  CAUSE  of  convcrsiou  is  internal, 
or  external. 

1.  The  internal  cause  is  free  grace  alone.  "Not 
by  works  of  righteousness  which  we  have  done,  but 
of  his  mercy  he  saved  us,"  and  "■  by  the  renewing  of 
the  Holy  Ghost."  "  Of  his  own  will  begat  he  us." 
We  are  chosen  and  called  unto  sanctificaiion,  not 
for  it. 

God  finds  nothing  in  man  to  excite  his  love : 
enough  to  provoke  his  loathing.  Look  back  upon 
thyself,  0  Christian !  Do  not  thine  own  clothes 
abhor  thee?  Job  9:31.  How  then  should  holi- 
ness and  pureness  love  thee  ?  Be  astonished,  O 
heavens,  at  this ;  be  moved,  0  earth.  Who  but 
must  needs  cry,  Grace,  grace.  Hear  and  blush,  ye 
children  of  the  Most  High — 0  ye  unthankful  men ! 
that  free  grace  is  no  more  in  your  mouths,  in  your 
thoughts ;  no  more  adored,  admired,  and  commended 
by  such  as  you.  One  would  think  you  should  be 
doing  nothing  but  praising  and  admiring  God  wher- 
ever you  ai'e.     How  can  you  forget  such  grace,  or 


THE  NATUEE  OF  CONVERSION.  21 

pass  it  over  with  a  slight  and  formal  mention  ? 
What  but  free  grace  could  move  God  to  love  you, 
tmless  enmity  could  do  it,  unless  deformity  could  do 
it  ?  How  affectionately  doth  Peter  lift  up  his  hands : 
"  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus, 
who  of  his  abundant  mercy  hath  begotten  us  again." 
How  feelingly  doth  Paul  magnify  the  free  mercy  of 
God  in  it :  "  God  who  is  rich  in  mercy,  for  his  great 
love  wherewith  he  loved  us,  hath  quickened  us  to- 
gether with  Christ.     By  grace  ye  are  saved." 

2.  The  external  cause  is  the  merit  and  interces- 
sion of  the  blessed  Jesus.  He  hath  obtained  gifts 
for  the  rebellious,  and  through  him  it  is  that  God 
worketh  in  us  what  is  well  pleasing  in  his  sight. 
Through  him  are  all  spiritual  blessings  bestowed 
upon  us  in  heavenly  things.  Every  convert  is  the 
fruit  of  his  travail.  He  is  made  sanctification  to  us. 
He  sanctified  himself — that  is,  set  apart  himself  as  a 
sacrifice — that  we  may  be  sanctified.  "  We  are 
sanctified  through  the  offering  of  his  body  once  for 
all."     Heb.  10:10. 

It  is  nothing,  then,  but  the  merit  and  intercession 
of  Christ,  that  prevails  with  God  to  bestow  on  us 
converting  grace.  If  thou  art  a  new  creature,  thou 
knowest  to  whom  thou  owest  it ;  to  Christ's  agonies 
and  prayers.  And  whither  else  shouldst  thou  go  ? 
If  any  in  the  world  can  show  that  for  thy  heart 
which  Christ  can,  let  them  do  it.  Doth  Satan  claim 
thee  ?     Doth  the  world  comt  thee  ?     Doth  sin  sue 


as  ALLEINE'S  ALARKL 

for  thy  heart  ?     But  were  these  crucified  for  thee  ? 

0  Christian,  love  and  serve  the  Lord  whilst  thou 
hast  a  being. 

III.  The  INSTRUMENT  of  convcrsion  is  either  per- 
sonal or  real.  The  personal  is  tbe  ministry.  I  have 
begotten  you  in  Christ  through  the  Gospel.  1  Cor. 
4  :  15.  Christ's  ministers  are  they  that  are  sent  to 
open  men's  eyes,  and  to  turn  them  to  God.  Acts 
26:18. 

O  unthankful  world,  httle  do  you  know  what  you 
are  doing  while  you  are  persecuting  the  messengers 
of  the  Lord.  These  are  they  whose  business  it  is, 
under  Christ,  to  save  you.  Whom  have  you  re- 
proached and  blasphemed  ?  Against  whom  have 
you  exalted  your  voice,  and  lifted  your  eyes  on  high  ? 
"  These  are  the  servants  of  the  most  high  God,  that 
show  unto  you  the  way  of  salvation,"  and  do  you 
thus  requite  them,  O  foolish  and  unwise !  O  sons 
of  ingratitude,  against  whom  do  ye  sport  yourselves  ? 
These  are  the  instruments  that  God  uses  to  convert 
and  save  sinners :  and  do  you  revile  your  physicians, 
and  throw  your  pilots  overboard  ?  "  Father,  for- 
give them  ;  for  they  know  not  what  they  do." 

The  real  instrument  is  the  word.  We  are  begot- 
ten by  the  word  of  truth.  This  it  is  that  enlightens 
the  eye;  that  converts  the  soul.  Psalm  19  :  7,  8; 
that  maketh  wise  to  salvation.  2  Tim.  3  :  15.  This 
is  the  incorruptible  seed,  by  which  we  are  bom  again. 

1  Pet.  1 :  23.     If  we  are  washed,  it  is  by  the  word. 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONVERSION.  23 

Eph.  5  :  26.  If  we  are  sanctified,  it  is  througli  the 
truth.  John  17: 17.  "Of  his  own  will  begat  he 
us  with  the  word  of  truth."     James  1:18. 

0  ye  saints,  how  should  ye  love  the  word  ;  for  by 
this  you  have  been  converted :  0  ye  sinners,  how 
should  you  ply  the  word  ;  for  by  means  of  this  you 
must  be  converted.  You  that  have  felt  its  renew- 
ing power,  make  much  of  it  while  you  hve ;  be  for 
ever  thankful  for  it ;  tie  it  about  your  neck ;  write  it 
upon  your  hand ;  lay  it  in  your  bosom.  When  you 
go,  let  it  lead  you ;  when  you  sleep,  let  it  keep  you ; 
when  you  wake,  let  it  talk  with  you :  say  with  holy 
David,  "  I  will  never  forget  thy  precepts,  for  by 
them  thou  hast  quickened  me."  You  that  are  un- 
converted, read  the  word  with  diligence ;  flock  to  it 
where  powerfully  preached :  pray  for  the  coming  of 
the  Spirit  in  the  word ;  come  from  your  knees  to  the 
sermon,  and  come  to  your  knees  from  the  sermon. 
The  seed  doth  not  prosper,  because  not  watered  by 
prayers  and  tears,  nor  covered  by  meditation. 

IV.  The  FINAL  CAUSE  OR  END  of  conversiou  is 
man's  salvation,  and  God's  glory.  We  are  chosen 
through  sanctification  to  salvation ;  called  that  we 
might  be  glorified  ;  but  especially  that  God  may  be 
glorified,  that  we  should  "  show  forth  his  praise," 
and  "be  fruitful  in  good  works."  0  Christian, 
do  not  forget  the  end  of  thy  calling;  "let  thy 
light  shine,"  let  thy  lamp  burn ;  let  thy  fruits  be 
good,  and  many,  and  in  season ;  let  all  thy  designs 


24  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

fall  in  with  God's,  that  he  may  "  be  magnified  in 
thee." 

V.  The  SUBJECT  of  conversion  is  the  sinner,  and 
that  in  all  his  parts  and  powers,  members  and  mind. 
Those  who  are  drawn  to  Christ,  or  come  to  him  by 
believing,  are  his  sheep,  "  whom  the  Father  hath 
given  him."  John  6  :  3Y,  44.  Wouldst  thou  know 
whether  thou  art  given  to  Christ  ?  prove  thy  con- 
version, and  then  never  doubt  of  thy  election ;  or, 
if  thou  canst  not  prove  it,  set  upon  a  present  and 
thorough  turning.  Whatever  God's  purposes  be, 
which  are  secret,  I  am  sure  his  precepts  are  plain. 
How  desperately  do  rebels  argue  !  "  If  I  am  elect- 
ed I  shall  be  saved,  do  what  I  will :  if  not,  I  shall 
be  damned,  do  what  I  can."  Perverse  sinner,  wilt 
thou  begin  where  thou  shouldest  end  ?  Is  not  the 
word  before  thee?  Whatsaithit?  "Repent  and 
be  converted,  that  your  sins  may  be  blotted  out." 
"  If  you  mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body,  you  shall 
live."  "Believe  and  be  saved."  What  can  bo 
plainer  ?  Do  not  stand  still  disputing  about  thine 
election,  but  set  to  repenting  and  believing ;  cry  to 
God  for  converting  grace.  Revealed  things  belong 
to  thee ;  in  these  busy  thyself.  It  is  just,  as  one 
well  said,  that  they  who  will  not  feed  on  the  plain 
food  of  the  word  should  be  choked  with  the  bones. 
Whatever  God's  purposes  be,  I  am  sure  his  promises 
are  true ;  whatever  the  decrees  of  heaven  be,  I  am 
sure  that  if  I  repent  and  believe  I  shall  be  saved ; 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONVERSION.  95 

and  that  if  I  repent  not,  I  shall  be  damned.  Is  not 
here  plain  ground  for  thee ;  and  wilt  thou  yet  run 
upon  the  rocks  ? 

More  particularly,  this  change  of  conversion  passes 
THROUGHOUT  THE  WHOLE  MAN.  A  camal  persou 
may  have  some  shreds  of  good  morality,  but  he  is 
never  good  throughout.  Conversion  is  not  a  repair- 
ing of  the  old  building ;  but  it  takes  all  down,  and 
erects  a  new  structure :  it  is  not  the  putting  in  a 
patch  of  holiness  ;  but,  with  the  true  convert,  holiness 
is  Avoven  into  all  his  powers,  principles,  and  practice. 
The  sincere  Christian  is  quite  a  new  fabric,  from  the 
foundation  to  the  top-stone.  He  is  a  new  man,  a 
new  creature.  All  things  are  become  new.  Con- 
version is  a  deep  work,  a  heart-work.  It  makes  a 
new  man  in  a  new  world.  It  goes  throughout  with 
men,  throughout  the  mind,  throughout  the  members, 
throughout  the  motions  of  the  whole  life. 

1.  Throughout  the  mind.  It  makes  a  universal 
change  within. 

(1.)  It  turns  the  balance  of  the  judgment ;  so  that 
God  and  his  glory  outweigh  all  carnal  and  worldly 
interests.  It  opens  the  eye  of  the  mind,  and  makes 
the  scales  of  its  native  ignorance  fall  off,  and  turns 
men  from  darkness  to  light.  The  man  that  before 
saw  no  danger  in  his  condition,  now  concludes 
himself  lost,  and  for  ever  undone,  Acts  2:37,  except 
renewed  by  the  power  of  grace.  He  that  formerly 
thought  there  was  little  barm  in  sin,  now  comes  to 


Si8  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

see  it  to  be  the  chief  of  evils ;  he  sees  the  unreason- 
ableness, the  unrighteousness,  the  deformity  and 
filthiness  of  sin ;  so  that  he  is  affrighted  with  it, 
loathes  it,  dreads  it,  flees  from  it,  and  even  abhors 
himself  for  it.  He  that  could  see  little  sin  in  him- 
self, and  could  find  no  matter  for  confession,  now 
sees  the  rottenness  of  his  heart,  the  desperate  and 
deep  pollution  of  his  whole  nature.  He  cries.  Un- 
clean, unclean :  Lord,  purge  me  with  hyssop,  wash 
me  thoroughly,  create  in  me  a  clean  heart.  He  sees 
himself  altogether  filthy,  corrupt,  both  root  and  tree ; 
he  writes  unclean  upon  all  his  parts,  and  powers, 
and  performances ;  he  discovei-s  the  filthy  corners 
that  he  was  never  aware  of,  and  sees  the  blasphe- 
my, and  theft,  and  murder,  and  adultery,  that  is  in 
his  heart,  of  which  before  he  was  ignorant.  Here- 
tofore he  saw  no  form  nor  comeliness  in  Christ,  nor 
beauty,  that  he  should  desire  him ;  but  now  he  finds 
the  hidden  treasure,  and  will  sell  all  to  buy  this  field. 
Christ  is  the  pearl  he  seeks. 

Now,  according  to  this  new  light,  the  man  is  of 
another  mind,  another  judgment,  than  he  was  be- 
fore. Now  God  is  all  with  him,  he  hath  none  in 
heaven,  nor  in  earth  like  him ;  he  truly  prefers  him 
before  all  the  world ;  his  favor  is  his  life,  the  light 
of  his  countenance  is  more  than  corn,  or  wine,  and 
oil.  A  hypocrite  may  come  to  yield  a  general  as- 
sent that  God  is  the  chief  good  ;  yea,  the  wiser 
heathens,  some  few  of  them,  have  at  last  stumbled 


THE  NATURE  OP  CONVEKSION.  27 

upon  this :  but  no  hypocrite  comes  so  far  as  to  look 
upon  God  as  the  most  desirable  and  suitable  good 
to  him,  and  thereupon  to  acquiesce  in  him.  This  is 
the  convert's  voice  :  "  The  Lord  is  my  portion,  saith 
my  soul.  Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  thee  ?  and 
there  is  none  upon  earth  that  I  desire  besides  thee. 
God  is  the  strength  of  my  heart,  and  my  portion  for 
ever." 

(2.)  It  turns  the  bias  of  the  will  both  as  to  means 
and  end.  The  intentions  of  the  will  are  altered. 
Now  the  man  hath  new  ends  and  designs ;  now  he 
intends  God  above  all,  and  desires  and  designs  noth- 
ing in  all  the  world,  so  much  as  that  Christ  may  be 
magnified  in  him.  He  counts  himself  more  happy 
in  this  than  in  all  that  the  earth  could  yield,  that  he 
may  be  serviceable  to  Christ,  and  bring  him  glory. 
This  is  the  mark  he  aims  at,  that  the  name  of  Jesus 
may  be  great  in  the  world. 

Reader,  dost  thou  view  this,  and  never  ask  thy- 
self whether  it  be  thus  with  thee  ?  Pause  a  while, 
and  breathe  on  this  great  concern. 

The  choice  is  also  changed.  He  pitcheth  upon 
God  as  his  blessedness,  and  upon  Christ  and  holiness 
as  means  to  bring  him  to  God.  He  chooseth  Jesus 
for  his  Lord.  He  is  not  merely  forced  to  Christ,  by 
the  storm,  nor  doth  he  take  Christ  for  bare  necessity, 
but  he  comes  freely.  His  choice  is  not  made  in  a 
fright,  as  with  the  terrified  conscience,  or  the  dying 
sinner  that  will  seemingly  do  any  thmg  for  Christ, 


28  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

but  only  takes  Christ  rather  than  hell.  He  deliber- 
ately resolves  that  Christ  is  his  best  choice,  and 
would  rather  have  him  than  all  the  good  of  this 
world,  might  he  enjoy  it  while  he  would.  Phil. 
1 :  23.  Again,  he  takes  holiness  for  his  path ;  he 
does  not  of  mere  necessity  submit  to  it,  but  he  likes 
and  loves  it :  "I  have  chosen  the  way  of  thy  pre- 
cepts." He  takes  God's  testimonies,  not  as  his  bond- 
age, but  as  his  heritage ;  yea,  heritage  for  ever. 
He  counts  them  not  his  burden,  but  his  bliss ;  not 
his  cords,  but  his  cordials.  He  does  not  only  bear, 
but  takes  up  Christ's  yoke :  he  takes  not  holiness  as 
the  stomach  does  the  loathed  potion,  which  a  man 
will  take  rather  than  die,  but  as  the  hungry  doth 
his  beloved  food.  No  time  passeth  so  sweetly  Avith 
him,  when  he  is  himself,  as  that  he  spends  in  the 
exercises  of  holiness.  These  are  both  his  aliment 
and  element,  the  desire  of  his  eyes  and  the  joy  of 
his  heart.  Put  it  to  thy  conscience  whether  thou 
art  the  man.  0  happy  man,  if  this  be  thy  case! 
But  see  thou  be  impartial  in  the  search. 

(3.)  It  turns  the  bent  of  the  affections.  These 
run  all  in  a  new  channel.  The  Jordan  is  now  driven 
back,  and  the  water  runs  upwards  against  its  natu- 
ral course.  Christ  is  his  hope.  This  is  his  prize. 
Here  his  eye  is  :  here  his  heart.  He  is  contented  to 
cast  all  overboard,  as  the  merchant  in  the  storm 
ready  to  perish,  so  he  may  but  keep  this  jewel. 

The  first  of  his  desires  is  not  after  gold,  but  grace. 


THE  NATURE  OP  CONVERSION.  29 

He  hungers  after  it,  he  seeks  it  as  silver,  he  digs  for 
it  as  for  hid  treasure ;  he  had  rather  be  gracious 
than  be  great ;  he  had  rather  be  the  holiest  man  on 
earth  than  the  most  learned,  the  most  famous,  the 
most  prosperous.  While  carnal,  he  said,  O  if  I  were 
but  in  great  esteem,  rolling  in  wealth,  and  swimming 
in  pleasure ;  if  my  debts  were  paid,  and  I  and  mine 
provided  for,  then  I  were  a  happy  man.  But  now 
the  tone  is  changed.  O,  saith  the  convert,  if  I  had 
but  my  corruptions  subdued,  if  I  had  such  a  measure 
of  grace,  such  fellowship  with  God,  though  I  were 
poor  and  dospised  I  should  not  care,  I  should  ac- 
count myself  a  blessed  man.  Reader,  is  this  the 
language  of  thy  soul  ? 

His  joys  are  changed.  He  rejoiceth  in  the  ways 
of  God's  testimonies  as  much  as  in  all  riches.  He 
dehghts  in  the  law  of  the  Lord,  wherein  once  he 
had  little  savor.  He  hath  no  such  joy  as  in  the 
thoughts  of  Christ,  the  fruition  of  his  company,  the 
prosperity  of  his  people. 

His  cares  are  quite  altered.  He  was  once  set 
for  the  world,  and  any  scrap  of  by-time  was  enough 
for  his  soul :  now  his  cry  is,  "  What  shall  I  do  to 
be  saved?"  His  great  solicitude  is  to  secure  his 
soul.  0  how  would  he  bless  you  if  you  could  but 
put  him  out  of  doubt  of  this  !  His  fears  are  not  so 
much  of  suflfering  as  of  sinning.  Once  he  was  afraid 
of  nothing  so  much  as  the  loss  of  his  estate  or  repu- 
tation ;  nothing  sounded  so  terrible  to  him  as  pain, 


9i  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

or  poverty,  or  disgrace ;  now  these  are  little  to  him, 
in  comparison  of  God's  dishonor  or  displeasure. 
How  warily  doth  he  walk,  lest  he  should  tread  upon 
a  snare!  He  feareth  alway;  he  hath  his  eye  upon 
his  heart,  and  is  ever  watchful  lest  he  should  be 
overtaken  with  sin.  It  kills  his  heart  to  think  of 
losing  God's  favor ;  this  he  dreads  as  his  only  un- 
doing. No  thought  would  pain  him  so  much  as  to 
think  of  parting  with  Christ. 

His  love  runs  a  new  course.  My  Love  was 
crucified,  saith  Ignatius ;  that  is,  my  Christ.  This 
is  my  Beloved,  saith  the  spouse.  Cant.  5:16.  How 
doth  Augustine  often  pour  his  love  upon  Christ! 
0  "  eternal  blessedness !"  He  can  find  no  words 
sweet  enough.  "  Let  me  see  thee,  0  light  of  mine 
eyes.  Come  0  thou  joy  of  my  spirit.  Let  me  be- 
hold thee,  O  life  of  my  soul.  Appear  unto  me, 
0  my  great  delight,  my  sweet  comfort :  0  my  God, 
my  life,  and  the  whole  glory  of  my  soul.  Let 
me  find  thee,  0  desire  of  my  heart.  Let  me  hold 
thee,  O  love  of  my  soul.  Let  me  embrace  thee,  0 
heavenly  bridegroom.     Let  me  possess  thee !" 

His  sorrows  have  now  a  new  vent.  The  view  of 
his  sins,  the  sight  of  Christ  crucified,  that  could 
scarcely  stir  him  before,  now  how  much  do  they 
affect  his  heart ! 

His  hatred  boils,  his  anger  bums  against  sin.  He 
hath  no  patience  with  himself :  he  calls  himself  fool 
and  beast,  and  thinks  any  name  too  good  for  him- 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONVERSION.  81 

self,  when  his  indignation  is  stirred  up  against  sin. 
Psalm  '73:22;  Prov.  30  :  2.  He  could  once  delight 
in  it  with  much  pleasure ;  now  he  loathes  the  thought 
of  returning  to  it. 

Commune  then  with  thine  own  heart,  and  attend 
to  the  general  current  of  thine  aflfections,  whether 
they  be  towards  God  in  Christ  above  all  other  con- 
cerns. Indeed,  sudden  and  strong  motions  of  the 
affections  are  ofttimes  found  in  hypocrites,  especial- 
ly where  the  natural  temperament  is  warm.  And, 
contrariwise,  the  sanctified  themselves  are  many 
kimes  without  sensible  stirring  of  the  affections, 
where  the  temper  is  more  slow,  dry,  and  dull.  The 
great  inquiry  is,  whether  the  judgment  and  will  be 
steadily  determined  for  God  above  all  other  good, 
real  or  apparent ;  if  so,  and  if  the  affections  do  sin- 
cerely follow  their  choice  and  conduct,  though  it  be 
not  so  strongly  and  sensibly  as  is  to  be  desired, 
there  is  no  doubt  but  the.  change  is  saving. 

2.  Throughout  the  members.  Those  that  were 
before  the  instruments  of  sin,  are  now  become  the 
holy  vessels  of  Christ's  hving  kingdom.  He  that 
before  dishonored  his  body,  now  possesses  his  ves- 
sel in  sanctification  and  honor,  in  temperance,  chas- 
tity, and  sobriety,  and  dedicates  it  to  the  Lord. 

The  eye,  that  was  once  a  wandering  eye,  a  wanton 
eye,  a  haughty,  a  covetous  eye,  is  now  employed,  as 
Mary's,  in  weeping  over  its  sins,  in  beholding  God 
in  his  works,  in  reading  his  word,  or  in  looking 


39  ALLEINE'S  ALARM, 

for  objects  of  mercy  and  opportunities  for  Ms  ser- 
vice. 

The  ear,  that  was  once  open  to  Satan's  call,  is  now 
open  to  the  voice  of  Christ's  house,  and  to  his  disci- 
pline. It  saith,  "  Speak,  Lord,  for  thy  servant  hear- 
eth."  It  waits  for  his  words  as  the  rain,  and  relishes 
them  more  than  the  appointed  food,  "more  than 
the  honey  and  the  honey-comb." 

The  head,  that  was  full  of  worldly  designs,  is  now 
filled  with  other  matters,  and  set  on  the  study  of 
God's  will,  and  the  man  employs  his  head  not  so  much 
about  his  gain  as  about  his  duty.  The  thoughts  and 
cares  that  fill  his  head  are,  principally,  how  he  may 
please  God  and  flee  sin. 

His  heart,  that  was  filled  with  filthy  lusts,  is  now 
become  an  altar  of  incense,  where  the  fire  of  divine 
love  is  ever  kept  burning,  and  whence  the  daily  sac- 
rifices of  prayer  and  praise,  and  the  sweet  incense 
of  holy  desires,  ejaculations,  and  prayers,  are  con- 
tinually ascending. 

The  mouth  is  become  a  well  of  life,  his  tongue  as 
choice  silver,  and  his  lips  feed  many ;  now  the  salt 
of  grace  has  seasoned  his  speech,  has  eaten  out  the 
corruption.  Col.  4  :  6,  and  cleansed  the  mouth  from 
its  filthy  communication,  flattery,  boasting,  and  back- 
biting, that  once  came  hke  flashes  that  proceeded 
from  the  hell  that  was  in  the  heart.  The  throat,  that 
was  once  an  open  sepulchre,  now  sends  forth  the 
sweet  breath  of  prayer  and  holy  discourse,  and  the 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONVERSION.  33 

man  speaks  in  another  tongue,  even  the  language  of 
Canaan,  and  is  never  so  well  as  when  talking  of  God 
and  Christ,  and  the  matters  of  another  world.  His 
mouth  bringeth  forth  wisdom ;  his  tongue  is  become 
the  silver  trumpet  of  his  Maker's  praise,  his  glory, 
and  the  best  member  that  he  hath. 

Now  here  you  will  find  the  hypocrite  sadly  de- 
ficient. He  speaks,  it  may  be,  like  an  angel,  but  he 
hath  a  covetous  eye,  or  the  gain  of  unrighteousness 
in  his  hand ;  or  the  hand  is  white,  but  his  heart  is 
full  of  rottenness.  Matt.  23  :  27,  full  of  unmortified 
cares,  a  very  oven  of  lust,  a  shop  of  pride,  the  seat 
of  malice.  It  may  be,  with  Nebuchadnezzar's  image, 
he  hath  a  golden  head,  a  great  deal  of  knowledge ; 
but  he  hath  feet  of  clay,  his  affections  are  worldly, 
he  minds  earthly  things,  and  his  way  and  walk  are 
sensual  and  carnal.  The  work  is  not  thorough  with 
him. 

3.  Throughout  the  life  and  practice,  the  new  man 
takes  a  new  course.  His  "  conversation  is  in  heav- 
en." No  sooner  doth  Christ  call  by  effectual  grace, 
but  he  straightway  becomes  "  a  follower  of  him." 
When  God  hath  given  the  new  heart,  and  written 
his  law  in  bis  mind,  he  forthwith  walks  in  his  stat- 
utes, and  keeps  his  judgments. 

Though  sin  may  dwell — truly  a  wearisome  and 
imwelcome  guest — ^in  him,  yet  it  hath  "no  more  do- 
minion over  him."  "  He  hath  his  fruit  unto  holi- 
ness," and  though  he  makes  many  a  blot,  yet  the 

AIMiie>l  Alarm.  ^ 


31  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

law  of  life  and  Jesus  is  what  he  looks  at  as  his  copy, 
and  he  hath  an  unfeigned  respect  to  all  God's  com- 
mandments, making  conscience  of  every  sin  and  ev- 
ery duty.  His  very  infirmities,  which  he  cannot  help 
though  he  would,  are  his  soul's  burden,  and  are  like 
the  dust  in  a  man's  eye,  which  though  but  little,  yet 
is  not  a  little  troublesome.  0  man,  dost  thou  read 
this  and  never  turn  in  upon  thy  soul  by  self-exam- 
ination? The  sincere  convert  is  not  one  man  at 
church  and  another  at  home ;  he  is  not  a  saint  on 
his  knees,  «nd  a  cheat  in  his  shop  ;  he  will  not  tithe 
mint  and  cummin,  and  neglect  mercy  and  judgment, 
and  the  weighty  matters  of  the  law ;  he  doth  not 
pretend  to  piety  and  neglect  morality ;  but  he  turns 
from  all  his  sins,  and  keeps  all  God's  statutes,  though 
not  perfectly — except  in  desire  and  endeavor — yet 
sincerely ;  not  allowing  himself  in  the  breach  of  any. 
Now  he  delights  in  the  word  and  sets  himself  to 
prayer,  and  opens  his  hand  and  draws  out  his  soul 
to  the  hungry.  "  He  breaketh  off  his  sins  by  right- 
eousness, and  his  iniquities  by  showing  mercy  to  the 
poor,"  and  hath  "  a  good  conscience,  willing  in  all 
tilings  to  live  honestly,"  and  to  keep  without  offence 
towards  God  and  man. 

Here,  again,'  you  find  the  unsoundness  of  many 
professors  who  consider  themselves  good  Christians  ; 
they  are  partial  in  the  law,  and  take  up  with  the 
cheap  and  easy  duties  of  religion,  but  go  not  through 
with  the  work.     It  may  be  you  find  them  exact  in 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONVERSION.  35 

their  'words,  punctual  in  their  dealings,  but  then  they 
do  not  exercise  themselves  unto  godliness ;  and  as 
for  examining  themselves  and  governing  their  hearts, 
to  this  they  are  strangers.  You  may  see  them  duly 
at  the  church ;  but  follow  them  to  their  famiUes,  and 
there  you  shall  see  little  but  the  world  minded ;  oi' 
if  they  have  family  duties,  follow  them  to  their 
closets,  and  there  you  shall  find  their  souls  are  little 
looked  after.  It  may  be  they  seem  otherwise  relig- 
ious, but  bridle  not  their  tongues,  and  so  "  all  their 
religion  is  vain."  It  may  be  they  come  up  to  closet 
and  family  prayer ;  but  follow  them  to  their  shops, 
and  there  you  find  them  in  the  habit  of  lying,  or 
some  covert  and  fashionable  way  of  deceit.  Thus 
the  hypocrite  goes  not  throughout  in  the  course  of 
his  obedience. 

VI.  The  OBJECTS  FROM  WHICH  we  turn  in  conver- 
sion are,  sin,  Satan,  the  world,  and  our  own  right- 
eousness. 

1.  We  turn  from  sin.  When  a  man  is  converted, 
he  is  for  ever  at  enmity  with  sin ;  yea,  with  all  sin, 
but  most  of  all  with  his  own  sins,  and  especially 
with  his  bosom  sin.  Sin  is  now  the  object  of  his 
indignation.  His  sins  swell  his  sorrows.  It  is  sin 
that  pierces  him  and  wounds  him ;  he  feels  it  like  a 
thorn  in  his  side,  like  a  prick  in  his  eyes :  he  groans 
and  struggles  under  it,  and  not  formally,  but  feel- 
ingly cries  out,  "  0  wretched  man !"  He  is  not  im- 
patient of  any  burden  so  much  as  of  his  sin.     If  God 


SS  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

should  give  him  his  choice,  he  would  choose  any 
affliction  so  he  might  be  rid  of  sin  ;  he  feels  it  like 
the  cutting  gravel  in  his  shoes,  pricking  and  paining 
him  as  he  goes. 

Before  conversion,  he  had  light  thoughts  of  sm ; 
he  cherished  it  in  his  bosom,  as  Uriah  his  lamb ;  he 
nourished  it  up,  and  it  grew  up  together  with  him  ; 
it  did  eat,  as  it  were,  of  his  own  meat,  and  drank  of 
his  own  cup,  and  lay  in  his  bosom,  and  was  to  him 
as  a  daughter.  But  when  God  opens  his  eyes  by 
conversion,  he  throws  it  away  with  abhorrence,  as 
a  man  would  a  loathsome  toad,  which  in  the  dark 
he  had  hugged  fast  in  his  bosom,  and  thought  it 
had  been  some  pretty  and  harmless  bird.  When  a 
man  is  savingly  changed,  he  is  deeply  convinced 
not  only  of  the  danger  but  the  defilement  of  sin; 
and  O,  how  earnest  is  he  with  God  to  be  purified ! 
he  loathes  himself  for  his  sins.  He  runs  to  Christ, 
and  casts  himself  into  the  fountain  set  open  for  sin 
and  for  uncleanness.  If  he  fall,  he  has  no  rest  till 
he  flees  to  the  word,  and  washes  in  the  infinite  foun- 
tain, laboring  to  cleanse  himself  from  all  filthiness 
both  of  flesh  and  spirit. 

The  sound  convert  is  heartily  engaged  against  sin ; 
he  struggles  with  it,  he  wars  against  it ;  he  is  too 
often  foiled,  but  he  will  never  yield  the  cause,  nor 
lay  down  the  weapons,  while  he  hath  breath  in  his 
body ;  he  will  make  no  peace  ;  he  will  give  no  quar- 
ter.    He  can  forgive  his  other  enemies ;  he  can  pity 


THE  NATURE  OP  CONVERSION.  37 

them,  and  pray  for  them  ;  but  here  he  is  implacable, 
here  he  is  set  upon  extermination ;  he  hunteth  as  it 
were  for  the  precious  life ;  his  eye  shall  not  pity, 
his  hand  shall  not  spare,  though  it  be  a  right  hand 
or  a  right  eye.  Be  it  a  gainful  sin,  most  delightful 
to  his  nature  or  the  support  of  his  esteem  with 
worldly  friends,  yet  he  will  rather  throw  his  gain 
down  the  kennel,  see  his  credit  fail,  or  the  flower  of 
pleasure  wither  in  his  hand,  than  he  will  allow  him- 
self in  any  known  way  of  sin.  He  will  grant  no  in- 
dulgence, he  will  give  no  toleration ;  he  draws  upon 
sin  wherever  he  meets  it,  and  frowns  upon  it  with 
this  unwelcome  salute,  "Have  I  found  thee,  0  mine 
enemy?" 

Reader,  hath  conscience  been  at  work  while  thou 
hast  been  looking  over  these  lines  ?  Hast  thou  pon- 
dered these  things  in  thy  heart  ?  Hast  thou  searched 
the  book  withjn,  to  see  if  these  things  be  so  ?  If 
not,  read  it  again,  and  make  thy  conscience  speak, 
whether  or  not  it  be  thus  with  thee. 

Hast  thou  crucified  thy  flesh  with  its  affections 
and  lusts ;  and  not  only  confessed,  but  forsaken  thy 
sins,  all  sin  in  thy  fervent  desires,  and  the  ordinary 
practice  of  every  deliberate  and  wilful  sin  in  thy  life  ? 
If  not,  thou  art  yet  unconverted.  Doth  not  con- 
science fly  in  thy  face  as  thou  readest,  and  tell 
thee  that  thou  livest  in  a  way  of  lying  for  thy  ad- 
vantage ;  that  thou  usest  deceit  in  thy  calling ; 
that  there  is  some  way  of  secret  wantonness  that 


9B  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

thou  livest  in?  why  then,  do  not  deceive  thyself; 
thou  art  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  the  bond  of 
iniquity. 

Doth  not  thy  unbridled  tongue,  thy  indulgence  of 
appetite,  thy  wicked  company,  thy  neglect  of  prayer, 
of  reading  and  hearing  the  word,  now  witness  against 
thee,  and  say,  "  We  are  thy  works,  and  we  will  fol- 
low thee ;"  or,  if  I  have  not  hit  thee  right,  doth  not 
the  monitor  within  tell  thee,  there  is  such  or  such  a 
way  that  thou  knowest  to  be  evil,  that  yet  for  some 
carnal  respect  thou  dost  tolerate  thyself  in  ?  If  this 
be  thy  case,  thou  art  to  this  day  unregenerate,  and 
must  be  changed  or  condemned. 

2.  We  turn  from  Satan.  Conversion  binds  the 
strong  man,  spoils  his  armor,  casts  out  his  goods, 
turns  men  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God.  Be- 
fore, the  devil  could  no  sooner  hold  up  his  finger  to 
the  sinner  to  call  him  to  his  wicked  company,  sinful 
games,  and  filthy  delights,  but  presently  he  followed, 
like  an  ox  to  the  slaughter,  and  a  fool  to  the  correc- 
tion of  the  stocks ;  as  the  bird  that  hasteth  to  the 
prey,  and  knoweth  not  that  it  is  for  his  life.  No 
sooner  could  Satan  bid  him  lie,  but  presently  he  had 
it  on  his  tongue.  No  sooner  could  Satan  offer  a 
wanton  object,  but  he  was  stung  with  lust.  If  the 
devil  says,  "Away  with  these  family  duties,"  be 
sure  they  shall  be  rarely  enough  performed  in  his 
house.  If  the  devil  says,  "  Away  with  this  strict- 
ness, this  preciseness,"  he  will  keep  far  enough  from 


THE  NATUBE  OP  CONVERSION.  39 

it :  if  he  tells  him,  "  There  is  no  need  of  these  closet- 
duties,"  he  will  go  from  day  to  day  and  scarcely 
perform  them.  But  since  he  is  converted  he  serves 
another  Master,  and  takes  quite  another  course :  he 
goes  and  comes  at  Christ's  bidding.  Satan  may 
sometimes  catch  his  foot  in  a  trap,  but  he  will  no 
longer  be  a  wUling  captive ;  he  watches  against  the 
snares  and  baits  of  Satan,  and  studies  to  be  ac- 
quainted with  his  devices ;  he  is  very  suspicious  of 
his  plots,  and  is  very  jealous  in  what  comes  across 
him,  lest  Satan  should  have  some  design  upon  him ; 
he  "  wrestles  against  principalities  and  powers  ;"  he 
entertains  the  messenger  of  Satan  as  men  do  the 
messenger  of  death ;  he  keeps  his  eye  upon  his  ene- 
my, and  watches  in  his  duties,  lest  Satan  should  get 
an  advantage. 

3.  We  turn  from  the  world.  Before  a  man  has 
true  faith,  he  is  overcome  of  the  world ;  either  he 
bows  down  to  mammon,  or  idolizes  his  reputation, 
or  is  a  "  lover  of  pleasure  more  than  a  lover  of  God." 
Here  is  the  root  of  man's  misery  by  the  fall ;  he  is 
turned  aside  to  the  creature,  and  gives  that  esteem, 
confidence,  and  afiection  to  the  creature,  that  is  due 
to  God  alone, 

0  miserable  man,  what  a  deformed  monster  hath 
sin  made  thee!  God  made  thee  "little  lower  than 
the  angels  ;"  sin,  little  better  than  the  devils.  The 
world,  that  was  formed  to  serve  thee,  is  come  to  rule 
thee — the  deceitful  harlot  hath  bewitched  thee  with 


40  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

her  enchantments,  and  made  thee  bow  down  and 
serve  her. 

But  converting  grace  sets  all  in  order  again,  and 
puts  God  on  the  throne,  and  the  world  at  his  foot- 
stool ;  Christ  in  the  heart,  and  the  world  under  the 
feet.  So  Paul,  "  I  am  crucified  to  the  world,  and 
the  world  to  me,"  Before  this  change,  all  the  cry- 
was,  "Who  will  show  us  any  worldly  good?"  but 
now  he  prays,  "  Lord,  lift  thou  up  the  light  of  thy 
countenance  upon  me,"  and  take  the  corn  and  wine 
whoso  will.  Before,  his  heart's  delight  and  content 
were  in  the  world ;  then  the  song  was,  "  Soul,  take 
thy  ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry ;  thou  hast  much 
goods  laid  up  for  many  years  ;"  but  now  all  this  is 
withered,  and  there  is  no  comeliness,  that  we  should 
desire  it ;  and  he  tunes  up  with  the  sweet  Psalmist 
of  Israel :  "  The  Lord  is  the  portion  of  my  inherit- 
ance ;  the  lines  are  fallen  to  me  in  a  fair  place,  and 
I  have  a  goodly  heritage."  He  blesseth  himself, 
and  boasteth  himself  in  God.  Nothing  else  can 
give  him  content.  He  hath  written  vanity  and  vex- 
ation upon  all  his  worldly  enjoyments,  and  loss  and 
dung  upon  all  human  excellencies.  He  hath  life 
and  immortality  now  in  pursuit.  He  pants  for  grace 
and  glory,  and  hath  a  crown  incorruptible  in  view. 
His  heart  is  set  in  him  to  seek  the  Lord.  He  first 
seeks  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  the  righteousness 
thereof,  and  religion  is  no  longer  a  matter  by  the  by 
with  him,  but  his  main  care. 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONVERSION.  41 

Before,  the  world  had  the  sway  with  him ;  he 
would  do  more  for  gain  than  godliness — more  to 
please  his  friend,  or  his  flesh,  than  the  God  that 
made  him ;  and  God  must  stand  by  till  the  world 
was  first  served.  But  now  all  must  stand  by;  he 
hates  father  and  mother,  and  life,  and  all,  in  com- 
parison of  Christ.  Well,  then,  pause  a  little,  and 
look  within.  Doth  not  this  nearly  concern  thee? 
Thou  pretendest  for  Christ,  but  does  not  the  world 
sway  thee  ?  Dost  thou  not  take  more  real  delight 
and  content  in  the  world  than  in  him  ?  Dost  thou 
not  find  thyself  better  at  ease  when  the  world  goes 
to  thy  mind,  and  thou  art  compassed  with  carnal 
delights,  than  when  retired  to  prayer  and  meditation 
in  thy  closet,  or  attending  upon  God's  word  and 
worship?  No  surer  evidence  of  an  unconverted 
state,  than  to  have  the  things  of  the  world  upper- 
most in  our  aim,  love,  and  estimation. 

With  the  sound  convert,  Christ  has  the  suprema- 
cy. How  dear  is  his  name  to  him  !  How  precious 
is  his  favor  !  The  name  of  Jesus  is  engraven  on  his 
heart.  Gal.  4  :  19.  Honor  is  but  air,  and  laughter 
is  but  madness,  and  mammon  is  fallen  like  Dagon  be- 
fore the  ark,  with  hands  and  head  broken  ofi"  on  the 
threshold,  when  once  Christ  is  savingly  revealed. 
Here  is  the  pearl  of  great  price  to  the  true  convert ; 
here  is  his  treasure ;  here  is  his  hope.  This  is  his 
glory,  "My  beloved  is  mine,  and  I  am  his."  0,  it 
is  sweeter  to  him  to  be  able  to  say,  Christ  is  mine. 


4Sl  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

than  if  he  could  say,  the  kingdom  is  mine,  the 
Indies  are  mine. 

4.  We  turn  from  our  oton  righteousness.  Before 
conversion,  man  seeks  to  cover  himself  with  his  own 
fig-leaves,  and  to  make  himself  whole  with  his  own 
duties.  He  is  apt  to  trust  in  himself,  and  set  up 
his  own  righteousness,  and  to  reckon  his  counters 
for  gold,  and  not  submit  to  the  righteousness  of 
God.  But  conversion  changes  his  mind ;  now  he 
counts  his  own  righteousness  as  filthy  rags.  He 
casts  it  off,  as  a  man  would  the  dirty  tatters  of  a 
beggar.  Now  he  is  brought  to  poverty  of  spirit, 
complains  of  and  condemns  himself,  and  all  his  in- 
ventory is,  "  poor,  and  miserable,  and  wretched,  and 
blind,  and  naked."  He  sees  a  world  of  iniquity  in 
his  holy  things,  and  calls  his  once-idolized  righteous- 
ness but  filth  and  loss ;  and  would  not  for  a  thou- 
sand worlds  be  found  in  it.  Now  he  begins  to  set 
a  high  price  upon  Christ's  righteousness:  he  sees 
the  need  of  Christ  in  every  duty,  to  justify  his  per- 
son, and  sanctify  his  performances ;  he  cannot  live 
without  him  ;  he  cannot  pray  without  him.  Christ 
must  go  with  him,  or  else  he  cannot  come  into  the 
presence  of  God ;  he  leans  upon  Christ,  and  so  bows 
.  himself  in  the  house  of  his  God ;  he  sets  himself 
down  for  a  lost  undone  man  without  him ;  his  life  is 
hid  in  Christ,  as  the  root  of  a  tree  spreads  in  the 
earth  for  stability  and  nutriment.  Before,  the  news 
of  Christ  was  a  stale  and  tasteless  thing;  but  now, 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONVERSION,  |Q( 

how  sweet  is  Christ.  Augustine  could  not  relish  his 
before  so  much  admired  Cicero,  because  he  could  not 
find  in  his  writings  the  name  of  Christ.  How  em- 
phatically cries  he,  "0  most  sweet,  most  loving, 
most  kind,  most  dear,  most  precious,  most  desired, 
most  lovely,  most  fair!"  etc. ^^ Meditat.  c.  87,  all  in 
a  breath,  when  he  speaks  of  and  to  Christ.  In  a 
word,  the  voice  of  the  convert  is  with  the  martyr, 
"  None  but  Christ." 

VII.  The  OBJECT  TO  WHICH  we  turn  in  conversion 
is,  God  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost ;  whom 
the  true  convert  takes  as  his  all-sufficient  and  eter- 
nal blessedness.  A  man  is  never  truly  sanctified 
till  his  very  heart  be  in  truth  set  upon  God  above 
all  things,  as  his  portion  and  chief  good.  These  are 
the  natural  breathings  of  a  believer's  heart :  "  Thou 
art  my  portion."  "My  soul  shall  make  her  boast 
in  the  Lord."  "  My  expectation  is  from  him ;  he 
only  is  my  rock  and  my  salvation ;  he  is  my  defence ; 
in  God  is  my  salvation  and  my  glory ;  the  rock  of 
my  strength,  and  my  refuge  is  in  God.'* 

Would  you  put  it  to  an  issue  whether  you  be 
converted  or  not  ?  Now  let  thy  soul  and  all  that  is 
within  thee  attend. 

Hast  thou  taken  God  for  thy  happiness  ?  Where 
doth  the  content  of  thy  heart  lie  ?  Whence  doth 
thy  choicest  comfort  come  in?  Come,  then,  and 
with  Abraham  lift  up  thine  eyes  eastward,  and  Avest- 
ward,  and  northward,  and  southward,  and  cast  about 


44  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

thee,  what  is  it  that  thou  wouldst  have  in  heaven  or 
on  earth  to  make  thee  happy  ?  If  God  should  give 
thee  thy  choice,  as  he  did  to  Solomon,  or  should  say 
to  thee,  as  Ahasuerus  to  Esther,  "  What  is  thy  pe- 
tition, and  what  is  thy  request,  and  it  shall  be 
granted  thee?"  what^wouldst  thou  ask?  Go  into 
the  gardens  of  pleasure,  and  gather  all  the  fragrant 
flowers  thence :  would  these  content  thee  ?  Go  to 
the  treasures  of  mammon;  suppose  thou  mightest 
lade  thyself  as  thou  Avouldst  from  hence.  Go  to  the 
towers,  to  the  trophies  of  honor ;  what  thinkest 
thou  of  being  a  man  of  renown,  and  having  a 
name  like  the  name  of  the  great  men  of  the  earth  ? 
"Would  any  of  these,  all  these  suffice  thee,  and  make 
thee  count  thyself  happy  ?  If  so,  then  certainly 
thou  art  carnal  and  unconverted.  If  not,  go  farther ; 
wade  into  the  divine  excellences,  the  store  of  his 
mercies,  the  hiding  of  his  power,  the  depths  unfath- 
omable of  his  all-sufficiency.  Doth  this  suit  thee 
best  and  please  thee  most  ?  Dost  thou  say,  "  It  is 
good  to  be  here  " — "  Here  will  I  pitch,  here  will  I 
live  and  die  ?"  Wilt  thou  let  all  the  world  go 
rather  than  this  ?  Then  it  is  well  between  God  and 
thee  :  happy  art  thou,  0  man — happy  art  thou  that 
ever  thou  wast  born.  If  God  can  make  thee  happy, 
thou  must  be  happy ;  for  thou  hast  avouched  the 
Lord  to  be  thy  God.  Dost  thou  say  to  Christ  as 
he  to  us,  "  Thy  Father  shall  be  my  Father,  and  thy 
God  my  God  ?"     Here  is  the  turning  point ;  an  un- 


THE  NATUBE  OP  CONVERSION.  ^ 

sound  professor  never  takes  up*his  rest  in  God,  but 
converting  grace  does  the  work,  and  so  cures  the 
fatal  misery  of  the  fall,  by  turning  the  heart  from 
its  idol  to  the  living  God.  Now  says  the  soul, 
"  Lord,  whither  shall  I  go  ?  Thou  hast  the  words 
of  eternal  life."  Here  he  centres,  here  he  settles. 
It  is  the  entrance  of  heaven  to  him ;  he  sees  his 
interest  in  God.  When  he  discovers  this,  he  saith, 
"  Return  unto  thy  rest,  0  my  soul,  for  the  Lord 
hath  dealt  bountifully  with  thee."  And  he  is  even 
ready  to  breathe  out  Simeon's  song,  "  Lord,  now 
lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace ;"  and  saith 
with  Jacob,  when  his  old  heart  revived  at  the  wel- 
come tidings,  "It  is  enough."  When  he  sees  he 
hath  a  God  in  covenant  to  go  to,  "  this  is  all  his  sal- 
vation and  all  his  desire." 

Is  this  thy  case ;  hast  thou  experienced  this  ? 
Then,  "  blessed  art  thou  of  the  Lord ;"  God  hath 
been  at  work  with  thee ;  he  hath  laid  hold  on  thy 
heart  by  the  power  of  converting  grace,  or  else  thou 
couldst  never  have  done  this. 

More  particularly,  in  conversion, 

1.  We  turn  to  Christ,  the  only  Mediator  be- 
tween God  and  man.  1  Tim.  2:5.  His  work  is  to 
bring  us  to  God.  1  Pet.  3:18.  He  is  the  way  to 
the  Father,  John  14:6,  the  only  plank  on  which 
we  may  escape,  the  only  door  by  which  we  may 
enter.  John  10:9.  Conversion  brings  over  the 
soul    to   Christ  to  accept  him  as  the   only  means 


46  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

of  life,  as  the  only  way,  the  only  name  given  under 
heaven.  He  looks  not  for  salvation  in  any  other 
but  him  ;  he  throws  himself  on  Christ  alone. 

"  Here,"  saith  the  convinced  sinner,  "  I  will  ven- 
ture ;  and  if  I  perish,  I  perish ;  if  I  die,  I  will  die 
here.  But,  Lord,  suffer  me  not  to  perish  under  the 
eye  of  thy  mercy.  Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  or 
to  return  from  following  after  thee."  Ruth  1  :  16. 
Here  I  will  throw  myself ;  if  thou  slay  me,  I  will 
not  go  from  thy  door. 

Thus  the  poor  soul  doth  venture  on  Christ  and 
resolvedly  adhere  to  him.  Before  conversion,  the 
man  made  light  of  Christ,  minded  his  farm,  friends, 
merchandise,  more  than  Christ;  now,  Christ  is  to 
him  as  his  necessary  food,  his  daily  bread,  the  life 
of  his  heart,  the  staff  of  his  life.  His  great  desire 
is,  that  Christ  may  be  magnified  in  him.  His  heart 
once  said,  as  they  to  the  spouse,  "  What  is  thy  be- 
loved more  than  another  ?"  Cant.  5  :  9.  He  found 
more  sweetness  in  his  merry  company,  wicked  games, 
earthly  delights,  than  in  Christ.  He  took  religion 
for  a  fancy,  and  the  talk  of  great  enjoyments  for  an 
idle  dream ;  but  now  "  to  him  to  live  is  Christ." 
He  sets  light  by  all  that  he  accounted  precious,  for 
the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ. 

All  of  Christ  is  accepted  by  the  sincere  convert : 
he  loves  not  only  the  wages,  but  the  work  of  Christ ; 
not  only  the  benefits,  but  the  burden  of  Christ; 
he  is  wilUng  not  only  to  tread  out  the  corn,  but  to 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONVEKSION.  47 

draw  under  the  yoke ;  he  takes  up  the  commands 
of  Christ,  yea,  the  crj)ss  of  Christ. 

The  unsound  closeth  by  halves  with  Christ :  he  is 
all  for  the  salvation  of  Christ,  but  he  is  not  for  sanc- 
tification ;  he  is  for  the  privileges,  but  appropriates 
not  the  person  of  Christ ;  he  divides  the  offices  and 
benefits  of  Christ.  This  is  an  error  in  the  founda- 
tion. Whoso  loveth  life,  let  him  beware  here ;  it  is 
an  undoing  mistake,  of  which  you  have  been  often 
warned,  and  yet  none  is  more  common.  Jesus  is  a 
sweet  name ;  but  men  "  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  in 
sincerity."  They  will  not  have  him  as  God  oflFers, 
"  to  be  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour."  They  divide  what 
God  has  joined,  the  king  and  the  priest:  yea,  they 
Avill  not  accept  the  salvation  of  Christ  as  he  intends 
it;  they  divide  it  here.  Every  man's  vote  is  for 
salvation  from  suffering ;  but  they  desire  not  to  be 
saved  from  sinning;  they  would  have  their  lives 
saved,  but  withal  would  have  their  lusts.  Yea, 
many  divide  here  again ;  they  would  be  content  to 
have  some  of  their  sins  destroyed,  but  they  cannot 
leave  the  lap  of  Delilah,  or  divorce  the  beloved 
Herodias :  they  cannot  be  cruel  to  the  right  eye  or 
right  hand  :  the  Lord  must  pardon  them  in  this 
thing.  0  be  carefully  scrupulous  here :  your  soul 
depends  upon  it.  The  sound  convert  takes  a  whole 
Christ,  and  takes  him  for  all  intents  and  purposes, 
without  exceptions,  without  limitations,  without  re- 
serve.    He  is  willing  to  have  Christ  upon  any  terms ; 


48  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

he  is  willing  to  have  the  dominion  of  Christ,  as  well 
as  deliverance  by  Christ ;  he  saith,  with  Paul, "  Lord, 
what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  Any  thing,  Lord. 
He  sends  the  blank  to  Christ,  to  set  down  his  own 
conditions. 

2.  We  turn  to  the  laws,  ordinances,  and  ways  of 
Christ.  The  heart  that  was  once  set  against  these, 
and  could  not  endure  the  strictness  of  these  bonds, 
the  severity  of  these  ways,  now  falls  in  with  them, 
and  chooses  them  as  its  rule  and  guide  for  ever. 

Four  things,  I  observe,  God  doth  work  in  every 
sound  convert,  with  reference  to  the  laws  and  ways 
of  Christ ;  by  which  you  may  come  to  know  your 
state,  if  you  will  be  faithful  to  your  own  souls ;  and, 
therefore,  keep  your  eyes  upon  your  hearts  as  you 
go  along. 

(1.)  The  judgment  is  brought  to  approve  of  them, 
and  subscribe  to  them,  as  most  righteous  and  most 
reasonable.  The  mind  is  brought  to  like  the  ways 
of  God  ;  and  the  corrupt  prejudices  that  were  once 
against  them,  as  unreasonable  and  intolerable,  are 
now  removed.  The  understanding  assents  to  them 
all,  as  holy,  just,  and  good.  Rom.  7:12.  How  is 
David  taken  up  with  the  excellences  of  God's  laws ; 
how  doth  he  expatiate  on  their  praises,  both  from 
their  inherent  qualities  and  admirable  effects  !  Psalm 
19:  8,  9,  10,  etc. 

There  is  a  two-fold  judgment  of  the  understand- 
ing.    The  absolute  judgment  is,  when  a  man  thinks 


THE  NATURE  OP  CONVERSION.  49 

such  a  course  best  in  the  general,  but  not  for  him, 
or  not  under  his  present  circumstances.  Now,  a 
godly  man's  judgment  is  for  the  ways  of  God,  and 
that  not  only  the  absolute,  but  comparative  judg- 
ment :  he  thinks  them  not  only  the  best  in  general, 
but  best  for  him  :  he  looks  upon  the  rules  of  religion 
not  only  as  tolerable,  but  desirable ;  yea,  more  de- 
sirable than  gold,  fine  gold ;  yea,  much  fine  gold. 

His  judgment  is  fully  determined  that  it  is  best  to 
be  holy,  that  it  is  best  to  be  strict,  that  it  is  in  itself 
the  most  eligible  course,  and  that  it  is  for  him  the 
wisest  and  most  rational  and  desirable  choice.  Hear 
the  godly  man's  judgment :  "  I  know,  0  Lord,  that 
thy  judgments  are  right ;  I  love  thy  commandments 
above  gold,  yea,  above  fine  gold ;  I  esteem  all  thy 
precepts  concerning  all  things  to  be  right ;  and  I 
hate  every  false  way."  Mark,  he  approves  of  all 
that  God  requires,  and  disallows  all  that  he  forbids. 
"Righteous,  O  Lord,  and  upright  ai*e  thy  judgments. 
Tliy  testimonies  that  thou  hast  commanded  are 
righteous  and  very  faithful.  Thy  word  is  true  from 
the  beginning,  and  every  one  of  thy  righteous  judg- 
ments endureth  for  ever."  See  how  readily  and 
fully  he  subscribes ;  he  declares  his  assent  and  con- 
sent to  it,  and  all  and  every  thing  therein  contained. 

(2.)  The  desire  of  the  heart  is  to  know  the  whole 
mind  of  Christ.  He  would  not  have  one  sin  undis- 
covered, nor  be  ignorant  of  one  duty  required.  It 
is  the  natural  and  earnest  breathing  of  a  sanctified 

AUeinet  AUim.  4 


so  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

heart :  "Lord,  if  there  he  any  way  of  wickedness  in 
me,  do  thou  discover  it.  What  I  know  not,  teach 
thou  me ;  and  if  I  have  done  iniquity,  I  will  do  it 
no  more."  The  unsound  convert  is  willingly  igno- 
rant, loves  not  to  come  to  the  light.  He  is  willing 
to  keep  such  or  such  a  sin,  and  therefore  is  loath  to 
know  it  to  he  a  sin,  and  will  not  let  in  the  light  at 
that  window.  Now,  the  gracious  heart  is  willing  to 
know  the  whole  latitude  and  compass  of  his  Maker's 
law.  He  receives  with  all  acceptation  the  word 
which  convinceth  him  of  any  duty  that  he  knew  not, 
or  minded  not  hefore,  or  which  discovereth  any  sin 
that  lay  hid  before. 

(3.)  The  free  and  resolved  choice  of  the  will  is 
for  the  ways  of  Christ,  before  all  the  pleasures  of 
sin  and  prosperities  of  the  world.  His  consent  is 
not  extorted  by  some  extremity  of  anguish,  nor  is  it 
only  a  sudden  and  hasty  resolve,  but  he  is  deliber- 
ately purposed,  and  comes  freely  to  the  choice. 
True,  the  flesh  will  rebel,  yet  the  prevailing  part  of 
his  will  is  for  Christ's  laws  and  government ;  so  that 
he  takes  them  not  up  as  his  toil  or  burden,  but  his 
bliss.  While  the  unsanctified  goes  in  Christ's  ways 
as  in  chains  and  fetters,  he  does  it  heartily,  and 
counts  Christ's  laws  his  liberty.  He  delights  in  the 
beauties  of  holiness,  and  has  this  inseparable  mark, 
"That  he  had  rather,  if  he  might  have  his  choice, 
live  a  strict  and  holy  life,  than  the  most  prosperous 
and  flourisliing  mere  worldly  life."     "  There  went 


THE  NATURE  OP  CONVERSION.  51 

with  Saul  a  band  of  men  whose  hearts  God  had 
touched."  When  God  toucheth  the  hearts  of  his 
chosen,  they  presently  follow  Christ,  and,  though 
drawn,  do  freely  run  after  him,  and  willingly  devote 
themselves  to  the  service  of  the  Lord,  seeking  him 
with  their  whole  desire.  Fear  hath  its  use  ;  but 
this  is  not  the  main-spring  of  motion  with  a  sancti- 
fied heart.  Christ  keeps  not  his  subjects  in  by 
force,  but  is  King  of  a  willing  people.  They  are, 
through  his  grace,  freely  devoted  to  his  service; 
they  serve  out  of  choice,  not  as  slaves,  but  as  the 
son  or  spouse,  from  a  spring  of  love  and  a  loyal 
mind.  In  a  word,  the  laws  of  Christ  are  the  con- 
vert's love,  delight,  and  continual  study. 

(4.)  The  bent  of  his  course  is  directed  to  keep 
God's  statutes.  It  is  the  daily  care  of  his  life  to 
walk  with  God.  He  seeks  great  things,  he  hath 
noble  designs,  though  he  fall  too  short.  He  aims 
at  nothing  less  than  perfection:  he  desires  it,  he 
reaches  after  it ;  he  would  not  rest  in  any  degree  of 
grace,  till  he  were  quite  rid  of  sin,  and  perfected  in 
holiness. 

Here  the  hypocrite's  rottenness  may  be  discov- 
ered. He  desires  holiness,  as  one  well  said,  only 
as  a  bridge  to  heaven,  and  inquires  earnestly  what 
is  the  least  that  will  serve  his  turn ;  and  if  he  can 
get  but  so  much  as  may  bring  him  to  heaven,  this  is 
all  he  cares  for.  But  the  sound  convert  desires  ho- 
liness for  holiness'  sake,  and  not  merely  for  heaven's 


£61  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

sake.  He  would  not  be  satisfied  with  so  much  as 
might  save  him  from  hell,  but  desires  the  highest 
degree :  yet  desires  are  not  enough.  What  is  thy 
way  and  thy  course  ?  Are  the  drift  and  scope  of 
thy  life  altered  ?  Is  holiness  thy  pursuit,  and'  re- 
ligion thy  business  ?  If  not,  thou  art  short  of  sound 
conversion. 

And  is  this  which  we  have  described,  the  conver- 
sion that  is  of  absolute  necessity  to  salvation  ? 
Then  be  informed,  that  strait  is  the  gate  and  narrow 
the  way  that  leadeth  unto  life — that  there  are  few 
that  find  it — that  there  is  need  of  a  divine  power 
savingly  to  convert  a  sinner  to  Jesus  Christ. 

Again,  then  be  exhorted,  0  man,  to  turn  in  upon 
thine  own  self.  What  saith  conscience?  Doth  it 
not  begin  to  accuse  ?  Doth  it  not  pierce  thee  as 
thou  goest?  Is  this  thy  judgment,  and  this  thy 
choice,  and  this  thy  way,  that  we  have  described  ? 
If  so,  then  it  is  well.  But  doth  not  thy  heart  con- 
demn thee,  and  tell  thee  there  is  such  a  sin  thou 
livest  in  against  thy  conscience  ?  Doth  it  not  tell 
thee  there  is  such  and  such  a  secret  way  of  wicked- 
ness that  thou  wishest  to  pursue ;  such  or  such  a 
duty  that  thou  makest  no  conscience  of  ? 

Doth  not  conscience  carry  thee  to  thy  closet,  and 
tell  thee  how  seldom  prayer  and  reading  are  per- 
formed there  ?  Doth  it  not  cany  thee  to  thy  fami- 
ly, and  show  thee  the  charge  of  God,  and  the  souls 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONVERSION.  53 

of  thy  children  and  servants,  that  are  neglected 
there  ?  Doth  not  conscience  lead  thee  to  thy  shop, 
thy  trade,  and  tell  thee  of  some  iniquity  there? 
Doth  it  not  carry  thee  to  the  dram-shop,  or  the 
resort  of  idleness,  and  blame  thee  for  the  loose 
company  thou  keepest  there,  the  precious  time  thou 
misspendest  there,  for  the  talents  which  thou  wast- 
est  there,  for  thy  gaming,  and  thy  drinking,  etc.  ? 
Doth  it  not  carry  thee  into  thy  secret  chamber,  and 
read  there  thy  condemnation  ? 

0  conscience !  do  thy  duty :  in  the  name  of  the 
living  God,  I  command  thee,  discharge  thine  office ; 
lay  hold  upon  this  sinner,  fall  upon  him,  arrest  him, 
apprehend  him,  undeceive  him.  What,  wilt  thou 
flatter  and  soothe  him  while  he  lives  in  his  sins  ? 
Awake,  0  conscience !  what  meanest  thou,  0  sleeper  ? 
What,  hast  thou  never  a  reproof  in  thy  mouth? 
What,  shall  this  soul  die  in  his  careless  neglect  of 
God  ^nd  of  eternity,  and  thou  altogether  hold  thy 
peace  ?  What,  shall  he  go  on  still  in  his  tres- 
passes, and  yet  have  peace  ?  Oh,  rouse  up  thy- 
self, and  do  thy  work.  '  Now  let  the  preacher  in  thy 
bosom  speak :  cry  aloud,  and  spare  not ;  lift  up  thy 
voice  like  a  trumpet :  let  not  the  blood  of  his  soul 
be  required  at  thy  hands. 


54  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

CHAPTER  III! 

THE   NECESSITT   OF    CONVERSION. 

It  may  be  you  are  ready  to  say,  What  meaneth 
this  stir  ?  and  are  apt  to  wonder  why  I  follow  you 
with  such  earnestness,  still  ringing  the  same  lesson 
in  your  ears,  that  "  you  should  repent,  and  be  con- 
verted." But  I  must  say  to  you,  as  Ruth  to  Nao- 
mi, "Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  or  to  return 
from  following  after  thee."  Were  it  a  matter  of  in- 
difference— might  you  be  saved  as  you  are — I  would 
gladly  let  you  alone ;  but  would  you  not  have  me 
solicitous  for  you,  when  I  see  you  rea,dy  to  perish  ? 
As  the  Lord  liveth,  before  whom  I  am,  I  have  not 
the  least  hope  to  see  one  of  your  faces  in  heaven, 
except  you  be  converted.  I  utterly  despair  of  your 
salvation,  except  you  will  be  prevailed  with  to  turn 
thoroughly,  and  give  up  yourself  to  God  in  holiness 
and  newness  of  life.  Hath  God  said,  "  Except  a  man 
be  born  again  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God," 
John  3:3;  and  yet  do  you  wonder  why  your  ministers 
so  earnestly  labor  for  you  ?  Think  it  not  strange  that 
I  am  earnest  with  you  to  follow  after  holiness,  and 
long  to  see  the  image  of  God  upon  you.  Never 
did  any,  nor  shall  any,  enter  into  heaven  by  any 
other  way  but  this.  The  conversion  described  is  not 
a  high  attainment  of  some  advanced  Christians,  but 
every  soul  that  is  saved  passeth  this  change. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CONVERSION.  55 

It  was  a  saying  of  the  noble  Roman,  vrlien  he  was 
hasting  with  corn  to  the  city  in  the  famine,  and  the 
mariners  Avere  loath  to  set  sail  in  foul  weather,  "  It  is 
necessary  for  us  to  sail — it  is  not  necessary  for  us  to 
live."  What  is  it  that  thou  dost  count  necessary? 
Is  thy  bread  necessary  ?  Is  thy  breath  necessary  ? 
Then  thy  conversion  is  much  more  necessaVy.  In- 
deed, this  is  the  one  thing  necessary.  Thine  estate 
is  not  necessary ;  thou  mayest  sell  all  for  the  pearl 
of  great  price,  and  yet  be  a  gainer  by  the  purchase. 
Thy  life  is  not  necessary ;  thou  mayest  part  with  it 
for  Christ,  to  infinite  advantage.  Thy  reputation  is 
not  necessary  ;  thou  mayest  be  reproached  for  the 
name  of  Christ,  and  yet  be  happy  ;  yea,  much  more 
happy  in  reproach  than  in  repute.  But  thy  conver- 
sion is  necessary ;  thy  salvation  depends  upon  it ; 
and  is  it  not  needful,  in  so  important  a  case,  to  look 
about  thee  ?  On  this  one  point  depends  thy  making 
or  marring  to  all  eternity. 

But  I  shall  more  particularly  show  the  necessity 
of  conversion  in  five  things  ;  for  without  this, 

I.  Thy  being  is  in  vain.  Is  it  not  a  pity  thou 
shouldst  be  good  for  nothing,  an  unprofitable  burden 
of  the  earth,  a  wart  or  wen  in  the  body  of  the  uni- 
verse ?  Thus  thou  art,  whilst  unconverted ;  for  thou 
canst  not  answer  the  end  of  thy  being.  Is  it  not 
for  the  divine  pleasure  that  thou  art  and  wast 
created  ?  Did  not  God  make  thee  for  himself?  Art 
thou  a  man,  and  hast  thou  reason  ?     Then,  bethink 


56  ALLEINE'3  ALARM. 

thyself  why  and  whence  thy  being  is.  Behold  God's 
workmanship  in  thy  body,  and  ask  thyself,  to  what 
end  did  God  rear  this  fabric  ?  Consider  the  noblfe 
faculties  of  thy  heaven-born  soul.  To  what  end  did 
God  bestow  these  excellencies  ?  Was  it  to  no  other 
end  than  that  thou  shouldst  please  thyself,  and  grat- 
ify thy  senses  ?  Did  God  send  men  into  the  world, 
only  like  the  swallows,  to  gather  a  few  sticks  and 
mud,  and  build  their  nests,  and  rear  up  their  young, 
and  then  away  ?  The  very  heathen  could  see  farther 
than  this.  Art  thou  so  "  fearfully  and  wonderfully 
made,"  and  dost  thou  not  yet  think  with  thyself — 
surely,  it  was  for  some  noble  and  exalted  end  ? 

0  man !  set  thy  reason  a  little  in  its  seat.  Is  it 
not  a  pity  such  a  goodly  fabric  should  be  raised  in 
vain  ?  Verily  thou  art  in  vain,  except  thou  art  for 
God :  better  thou  hadst  no  being,  than  not  be  for 
him.  Wouldst  thou  serve  thy  end  ?  thou  must  re- 
pent and  be  converted  :  without  this  thou  art  to  no 
purpose ;  yea,  to  bad  purpose. 

Thou  art  to  no  purpose.  Man,  unconverted,  is 
like  a  choice  instrument  that  hath  every  string 
broken  or  out  of  tune.  The  Spirit  of  the  living  God 
must  repair  and  time  it  by  the  grace  of  regeneration, 
and  sweetly  move  it  by  the  power  of  actuating  grace, 
or  else  thy  prayers  will  be  but  bowlings,  and  all 
thy  ser\'^ices  will  make  no  music  in  the  ears  of  the 
Most  Holy.  All  thy  powers  and  faculties  are  so 
corrupt  in  thy  natural  state,  that,  except  thou  be 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CONVERSION.  57 

purged  from  dead  works,  thou  canst  not  serve  the 
living  God.  An  unsanctified  man  cannot  work  the 
work  of  God. 

1.  He  hath  no  skill  in  it ;  he  is  altogether  as  un- 
skilful in  the  work  as  in  the  word  of  righteousness. 
There  are  great  mysteries  in  the  practice  as  well  as 
in  the  principles  of  godliness.  Now  the  unregene- 
rate  know  not  "  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  You  may  as  well  expect  him  that  never 
learned  the  alphabet  to  read,  or  look  for  gogdly 
music  on  the  lute  from  one  that  never  set  his  hand 
to  an  instrument,  as  that  a  natural  man  should  do 
the  Lord  any  pleasing  service.  He  must  first  be 
taught  of  God,  taught  to  pray,  taught  to  profit, 
taught  to  go,  or  else  he  will  be  utterly  at  a  loss. 

2.  He  hath  no  strength  for  it.  How  weak  is  his 
heart !  he  is  presently  tired.  The  Sabbath,  what  a 
weariness  is  it !  He  is  without  strength,  yea,  dead 
in  sin. 

3.  He  hath  no  mind  to  it ;  he  desires  not  the 
knowledge  of  God's  ways  ;  he  doth  not  know  them, 
and  he  doth  not  care  to  know  them ;  he  knows  not, 
neither  will  he  understand. 

4.  He  hath  neither  due  instruments  nor  materials 
for  it.  A  man  may  as  well  hew  the  marble  without 
tools,  or  paint  without  colors  or  instruments,  or  build 
without  materials,  as  perform  any  acceptable  service 
without  the  graces  of  the  Spirit,  which  are  both  the 
materials  and  instruments  in  the  work.     Almsgiving 


58  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

is  not  a  service  of  God,  but  of  vain-glory,  if  it  spring 
not  from  divine  love.  What  is  the  prayer  of  the 
lips  without  grace  in  the  heart,  but  the  carcass 
without  the  life  ?  What  are  all  our  confessions,  un- 
less they  be  exercises  of  godly  sorrow  and  unfeigned 
repentance?  What  our  petitions,  unless  animated 
with  holy  desires  and  faith  in  the  divine  attributes 
and  promises  ?  What  our  praises  and  thanksgivings, 
unless  from  the  love  of  God,  and  a  holy  gratitude 
and,  sense  of  God's  mercies  in  the  heart  ?  So  that 
a  man  may  as  well  expect  that  trees  should  speak, 
or  look  for  motion  from  the  dead,  as  look  for  any 
service,  holy  and  acceptable  to  God,  from  the  un- 
converted. When  the  tree  is  evil,  how  can  the  fruit 
be  good  ? 

Also,  without  conversion  you  live  to  had  purpose. 
The  unconverted  soul  is  a  very  cage  of  unclean  birds, 
a  sepulchre  full  of  corruption  and  rottenness.  0 
dreadful  case !  Dost  thou  not  yet  see  a  change  to 
be  needful  ?  Would  it  not  have  grieved  one  to  see 
the  golden  consecrated  vessels  of  God's  temple 
turned  into  quaffing  bowls  of  drunkenness,  and  pol- 
luted with  the  idol's  service  ?  Was  it  such  an  abom- 
ination to  the  Jews,  when  Antiochus  set  up  the 
picture  of  a  swine  at  the  entrance  of  the  temple  ? 
How  much  more  abominable,  then,  would  it  have 
been  to  have  had  the  very  temple  itself  turned  into 
a  stable  or  a  sty ;  and  to  have  had  the  "  holy  of 
holies"  served  like  the  house  of  Baal !    This  is  the 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CONVERSION.  59 

very  case  of  the  unregenerate :  all  thy  members  are 
turned  into  instruments  of  unrighteousness,  servants 
of  Satan  ;  and  thy  inmost  heart  into  a  receptacle  of 
uncleanness.  You  may  see  what  kind  of  guests 
are  within,  by  what  comes  out;  for,  "out  of  the 
heart  proceed  evil  thoughts,  murders,  adulteries, 
fornications,  thefts,  false  witness,  blasphemies," 
etc.  This  black  troop  discovers  what  a  hell  there 
is  within. 

0  abuse  insufferable!  to  see  a  heaven-born  soul 
abased  to  such  vileness ;  to  see  the  glory  of  God's 
creation,  the  chief  of  the  works  of  God,  the  lord  of 
this  lower  world,  eating  husks  with  the  prodigal ! 
Was  it  such  a  lamentation  to  see  those  that  did  feed 
delicately  sit  desolate  in  the  streets ;  and  the  pre- 
cious sons  of  Zion,  comparable  to  fine  gold,  esteemed 
as  earthen  pitchers  ;  and  those  that  were  clothed  in 
scarlet  embrace  dunghills  ?  Lam.  4  :  2,  5.  And  is 
it  not  much  more  fearful  to  see  the  only  being  that 
hath  immortality  in  this  lower  world,  and  carries  the 
stamp  of  God,  become  as  a  vessel  wherein  is  no 
pleasure,  and  be  put  to  the  most  sordid  use?  0 
indignity  intolerable !  Better  thou  wert  dashed  in 
a  thousand  pieces,  than  continue  to  be  abased  to  so 
vile  a  service. 

II.  Not  only  man,  but  the  whole  visible  crea- 
tion, is  in  vain  without  this.  God  hath  made  all 
the  visible  creatures  in  heaven  and  earth  for  the 
service  of  man,  and  man  only  is  the  spokesman  for 


60  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

all  the  rest.  Man  is,  in  the  Avorld,  like  the  tongue 
to  the  body,  which  speaks  for  all  the  members.  The 
other  creatures  cannot  praise  their  Maker,  but  by 
dumb  signs  and  hints  to  man  that  he  should  speak 
for  them.  Man  is,  as  it  were,  the  high-priest  of 
God's  creation,  to  offer  the  sacrifice  of  praise  for  all 
his  fellow- creatures.  The  Lord  God  expecteth  a 
tribute  of  praise  from  all  his  works.  Now,  all  the 
rest  do  bring  in  their  tribute  to  man,  and  pay  it  by 
his  hand.  So  then,  if  a  man  be  false,  and  faithless, 
and  selfish,  God  is  wronged  of  all,  and  has  no  active 
glory  from  his  works. 

0  dreadful  thought !  that  God  should  build  such 
a  world  as  this,  and  lay  out  such  infinite  power,  and 
wisdom,  and  goodness  thereupon,  and  all  in  vain ; 
and  that  man  should  be  guilty,  at  last,  of  robbing 
and  spoiling  him  of  the  glory  of  all !  0  think  of 
this.  While  thou  art  unconverted,  all  the  offices  of 
the  creatures  are  in  vain  to  thee ;  thy  meat  nourishes 
thee  in  vain ;  the  sun  holds  forth  his  light  to  thee  in 
vain ;  the  stars  that  serve  thee  in  their  courses  by 
their  powerful,  though  hidden  influence,  do  it  in 
vain  ;  thy  clothes  warm  thee  in  vain;  thy  beast  car- 
ries thee  in  vain ;  in  a  word,  the  unwearied  labor 
and  continued  travail  of  the  whole  creation,  as  to 
thee,  are  in  vain.  The  service  of  all  the  creatures 
that  drudge  for  thee,  and  yield  forth  their  strength 
unto  thee,  that  therewith  thou  shouldest  serv^e  their 
Maker,  is  all  but  lost  labor.     Hence,  "the  whole 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CONVERSION.  61 

creation  groaneth,"  Rom.  8  :  22,  under  the  abuse 
of  men  unsanctified,  who  pervert  all  things  to  the 
service  of  their  lusts,  quite  contrary  to  the  very  end 
of  their  being. 

III.  Without  this,  tht  religion  is  vain  ;  all  thy 
religious  performances  will  be  but  lost ;  for  they  can 
neither  please  God  nor  save  thy  soul,  which  are  the 
very  ends  of  religion.  Be  thy  services  ever  so  spe- 
cious, yet  God  hath  no  pleasure  in  them.  Is  not 
that  man's  case  dreadful  whose  sacrifices  are  as 
murders,  and  whose  prayers  are  a  breath  of  abomi- 
nation ?  Many,  under  convictions,  think  they  will 
set  upon  mending,  and  that  a  few  prayers  and  alms 
will  set  all  right  again ;  but  alas,  sirs,  while  your 
hearts  remain  unsanctified  your  duties  will  not  pass. 
How  punctual  was  Jehu!  and  yet  all  was  rejected 
because  his  heart  was  not  upright.  How  blameless 
was  Paul !  and  yet,  being  unconverted,  all  was  but 
loss.  Men  think  they  do  much  in  attending  God's 
service,  and  are  ready  to  set  him  down  so  much 
their  debtor  ;  whereas  their  persons  being  unsancti- 
fied, their  duties  cannot  be  accepted. 

O  soul !  do  not  think,  when  thy  sins  pursue 
thee,  that  a  little  praying  and  reforming  thy  course 
will  pacify  God.  Thou  must  begin  with  thine 
heart.  If  that  be  not  renewed,  thou  canst  no  more 
please  God  than  one  who,  having  unspeakably 
offended  thee,  should  bring  thee  the  most  loathsome 
thing  to  pacify  thee  ;  or  having  fallen  into  the  mire, 


m  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

should  think  with  his  filthy  embraces  to  reconcile 
thee. 

It  is  a  great  misery  to  labor  in  the  fire.  The 
poets  could  not  invent  a  worse  hell  for  Sisyphus 
than  to  be  ever  toiling  to  get  the  stone  up  the  hill, 
and  then  that  it  should  presently  roll  down  again 
and  renew  his  labor.  God  threatens  it  as  the  great- 
est of  temporal  judgments,  that  they  should  build 
and  not  inhabit,  plant  and  not  gather,  and  that  their 
labors  should  be  eaten  up  by  strangers.  Is  it  so 
great  a  misery  to  lose  our  common  labors,  to  sow  in 
vain,  and  to  build  in  vain  ?  how  much  more  to  lose 
our  pains  in  religion — to  pray,  and  hear,  and  fast  in 
vain !  This  is  an  undoing  and  eternal  loss.  Be  not 
deceived ;  if  thou  goest  on  in  thy  sinful  state,  though 
thou  shouldst  spread  forth  thy  hands,  God  will  hide 
his  eyes ;  though  thou  make  many  prayers,  he  will 
not  hear.  If  a  man  without  skill  set  about  our 
work,  and  spoil  it  in  the  doing,  though  he  take  much 
pains,  we  give  him  but  small  thanks.  God  will  be 
Avorshipped  after  the  due  order.  If  a  servant  do 
our  work,  but  quite  contrary  to  our  order,  he  shall 
have  rather  stripes  than  praise.  God's  work  must 
be  done  according  to  God's  mind,  or  he  will  not  be 
pleased ;  and  this  cannot  be,  except  it  be  done  with 
a  holy  heart. 

IV.  Without  true  conversion,  thy  hopes  are  in 
vain.  "  The  hope  of  the  hypocrite  shall  perish." 
"  The  Lord  hath  rejected  thy  confidences." 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CONVERSION.  63 

1.  The  hope  of  comfort  here  is  vain.  It  is  not 
only  necessary  to  the  safety,  but  comfort  of  your 
condition,  that  you  be  converted.  Without  this, 
you  "  shall  not  know  peace."  Without  the  "  fear 
of  God  "  you  cannot  have  the  "comfort  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."  God  speaks  peace  only  to  his  people  and 
to  his  saints.  If  you  have  a  false  peace,  continuing 
in  your  sins,  it  is  not  of  God's  speaking,  and  then 
you  may  guess  the  author.  Sin  is  a  real  sickness, 
yea,  the  worst  of  sickness ;  it  is  a  leprosy  in  the 
head,  the  plague  of  the  heart ;  it  is  rottenness  in  the 
bones ;  it  pierceth,  it  woundeth,  it  racketh,  it  tor- 
menteth.  A  man  may  as  well  expect  ease  when  his 
diseases  are  in  their  full  strength,  or  his  bones  out 
of  joint,  as  true  comfort  while  in  his  sins. 

0  wretched  man,  that  canst  have  no  ease  in  this 
case  but  what  comes  from  the  deadliness  of  the  dis- 
ease !  You  shall  hear  the  poor  sick  man  saying,  in 
his  wildness,  he  is  well,  when  you  see  death  in  his 
face :  he  would  be  up  and  about  his  business,  when 
the  very  next  step  is  likely  to  be  to  his  grave.  The 
unsanctified  often  see  nothing  amiss  ;  they  think 
themselves  whole,  and  cry  not  for  the  physician ; 
but  this  only  shows  the  danger  of  their  case. 

Sin  doth  naturally  breed  distempers  and  disturb- 
ances in  the  soul.  What  a  continual  tempest  is 
there  in  a  discontented  mind  ;  what  a  corroding  evil 
is  inordinate  care  !  What  is  passion  but  a  very  fever 
in  the  mind  ;  what  is  lust  but  a  fire  in  the  bones ; 


64  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

what  is  pride  but  a  deadly  dropsy ;  or  covetousness, 
but  an  insatiable  and  insufferable  thirst;  or  malice 
and  envy,  but  venom  in  the  very  heart  ?  Spiritual 
sloth  is  but  a  scurvy  in  the  mind,  and  carnal  security 
a  mortal  lethargy  ;  and  how  can  that  soul  have  true 
comfort  which  is  under  so  many  diseases?  But 
converting  grace  cures,  and  so  eases  the  mind,  and 
prepares  the  soul  for  a  settled,  standing,  immortal 
peace.  "  Great  peace  have  they  that  love  thy  law, 
and  nothing  shall  offend  them."  They  are  the  ways 
of  wisdom  that  afford  pleasure  and  peace.  David 
had  infinitely  more  pleasure  in  the  word  than  in  all 
the  delights  of  his  court.  The  conscience  cannot  be 
truly  pacified  till  soundly  purified.  Cursed  is  that 
peace  which  is  maintained  in  a  way  of  sin.  Two 
sorts  of  peace  are  more  to  be  dreaded  than  all  the 
troubles  in  the  world  ;  peace  with  sin,  and  peace  in 
sin. 

2.  Thy  hopes  of  salvation  hereafter  are  in  vain ; 
yea,  worse  than  in  vain ;  they  are  most  injurious  to 
God,  most  pernicious  to  thyself.  There  is  death, 
desperation,  and  blasphemy  in  this  hope. 

(l.y  There  is  death  in  it.  Thy  confidence  shall  be 
rooted  out  of  thy  tabernacles,  God  will  up  with  it 
root  and  branch  ;  it  shall  bring  thee  to  the  king  of 
terrors.  Though  thou  may  est  lean  upon  this  house, 
it  will  not  stand,  but  will  prove  like  a  ruinous  build- 
ing, which,  when  a  man  trusts  to  it,  falls  down  about 
him. 


THE  NECESSITY  OP  CONVERSION.  65 

(2.)  There  is  desperation  in  it :  "  Where  is  the  hope 
of  the  hypocrite  when  God  takes  away  his  soul  ?" 
Then  there  is  an  end  for  ever  of  his  hope.  Indeed, 
the  hope  of  the  righteous  hath  an  end  ;  but  it  is  not 
a  destructive,  but  a  perfective  end ;  his  hope  ends 
in  fruition,  others  in  frustration.  The  godly  may 
say  at  death,  "It  is  finished;"  but  the  wicked,  "It 
is  perished,"  and  in  too  sad  earnest  bemoan  himself, 
as  Job,  in  a  mistake,  "Where  is  now  my  hope? 
He  hath  destroyed  me ;  I  am  gone,  and  my  hope  is 
removed  hke  a  tree."  "The  righteous  hath  hope 
in  his  death."  When  nature  is  dying,  his  hopes  are 
living ;  when  his  body  is  languishing,  his  hopes  are 
flourishmg ;  his  hope  is  a  living  hope,  but  others'  a 
dying,  yea,  a  damning,  soul-undoing  hope  :  "  When 
a  wicked  man  dieth,  his  expectation  shall  perish ; 
and  the  hope  of  unjust  men  perisheth."  It  shall  be 
cut  off  and  prove  like  a  "  spider's  web,"  which  he 
spins  out  of  his  own  bowels  ;  but  then  comes  death 
and  destroys  all,  and  so  there  is  an  eternal  end  of 
his  confidence  wherein  he  trusted ;  for  "  the  eyes  of 
the  wicked  shall  fail,  and  their  hope  shall  be  as  the 
giving  up  of  the  ghost."  Wicked  men  are  fixed  in 
their  carnal  hope,  and  will  not  be  beaten  out  of  it ; 
they  hold  it  fast ;  they  will  not  let  it  go  ;  but  death 
will  knock  off  their  fingers.  Though  we  cannot  un- 
deceive them,  death  and  judgment  will.  When 
death  strikes  his  dart  through  thy  hver,  it  will  ruin 
thy  soul  and  thy  hopes  together.     The  imsanctified. 

AUeiiM>i  Alarm.  O 


66  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

have  hope  only  in  this  Hfe,  and  therefore  are  "  of  all 
men  most  miserable."  When  death  comes,  it  lets 
them  out  into  the  amazing  gulf  of  endless  despe- 
ration. 

(3.)  There  is  blasphemy  in  it.  To  hope  we  shall 
be  saved,  though  continuing  unconverted,  is  to  hope 
that  we  shall  prove  God  a  liar.  He  hath  told  you, 
that,  merciful  and  pitiful  as  he  is,  he  will  never  save 
you  notwithstanding,  if  you  go  on  in  ignorance,  or  a 
course  of  unrighteousness.  In  a  word,  he  has  told 
you  that,  whatever  you  be  or  do,  nothing  shall  avaiJ 
you  to  salvation  unless  you  become  new  creatures 
Now,  to  say  God  is  merciful,  and  we  hope  that  he 
will  save  us,  without  conversion,  is  in  effect  to  say, 
"  We  hope  that  God  will  not  do  as  he  says."  We 
must  not  set  God's  attributes  at  variance ;  God  has 
resolved  to  glorify  his  mercy,  but  not  to  the  preju- 
dice of  his  truth,  as  the  presumptuous  sinner  will 
find  to  his  everlasting  sorrow. 

Objection,  But  we  hope  in  Jesus  Christ ;  we  put 
our  whole  trust  in  God;  and  therefore  doubt  not 
but  we  shall  be  saved. 

Answer  1.  This  is  not  hope  in  Christ,  but  against 
Christ.  To  hope  to  see  the  kingdom  of  God  with- 
out being  bom  again  ;  to  hope  to  find  eternal  life  in 
the  broad  way,  is  to  hope  Christ  will  prove  a  false 
prophet.  David's  plea  is,  "  I  hope  in  thy  word." 
But  this  hope  is  against  God's  word.  Show  me  a 
word  of  Christ  for  thy  hope  that  he  will  save  thee 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CONVERSION.  67 

in  thine  ignorance  or  profane  neglect  of  his  service, 
and  I  will  never  try  to  shake  thy  confidence. 

2.  God  doth  with  abhorrence  reject  this  hope. 
Those  condemned  in  the  prophet,  went  on  in  their 
sins  ;  yet,  saith  the  prophet,  "  will  they  lean  upon 
the  Lord."  Micah  3:11.  God  will  not  endure  to 
be  made  a  prop  to  men  in  their  sins.  The  Lord  re- 
jected those  presumptuous  sinners  that  went  on  still 
in  their  trespasses  and  yet  would  stay  themselves 
upon  Israel's  God,  as  a  man  would  shake  off  the 
briers  that  cleave  to  his  garment. 

3.  If  thy  hope  be  any  thing  worth,  it  will  purify 
thee  from  thy  sins,  1  John,  3:3;  but  cursed  is 
that  hope  which  cherishes  men  in  their  sins. 

Objection.  Would  you  have  us  despair  ? 

Answer.  You  must  despair  of  ever  coming  to 
heaven  as  you  are,  that  is,  while  you  remain  uncon- 
verted. You  must  despair  of  ever  seeing  the  face 
of  God  without  holiness  ;  but  you  must  by  no 
means  despair  of  finding  mercy  upon  your  thorough 
repentance  and  conversion ;  neither  may  you  despair 
of  attaining  to  repentance  and  conversion,  in  the  \ise 
of  God's  means. 

V.  Without  conversion,  all  that  Christ  hath 
DONE  AND  SUFFERED  will  be,  as  to  you,  in  vain ; 
that  is,  it  will  no  way  avail  you  to  salvation.  Many 
urge  this  as  a  sufficient  ground  for  their  hope,  that 
Christ  died  for  sinners ;  but  I  must  tell  you,  Christ 
never  died  to  save  impenitent  and  unconverted  sin- 


ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 


ners,  so  continuing.  A  great  divine  was  wont,  in. 
his  private  dealings  with  souls,  to  ask  two  questions : 
1.  What  hath  Christ  done  for  you?  2.  What  hath 
Christ  wrought  in  you?  Without  the  application 
of  the  Spirit  in  regeneration,  we  have  no  saving 
interest  in  the  benefits  of  redemption.  I  tell  you 
from  the  Lord,  that  Christ  himself  cannot  save  you 
if  you  go  on  in  this  state. 

1.  It  were  against  his  trust.  The  Mediator  is  the 
servant  of  the  Father,  shows  his  commission  from 
him,  acts  in  his  name,  and  pleads  his  command  for 
his  justification ;  and  God  has  committed  all  things 
to  him,  intrusted  his  own  glory  and  the  salvation  of 
the  elect  with  him.  Accordingly,  Christ  gives  his 
Father  an  account  of  both  parts  of  his  trust  before 
he  leaves  the  world.  Now  Christ  would  quite  cross 
his  Father's  glory,  tarnish  his  greatest  trust,  if  he' 
should  save  men  in  their  sins ;  for  this  were  to  over- 
turn all  his  counsels,  and  to  offer  violence  to  all  his 
attributes. 

(1.)  To  overturn  all  his  counsels  ;  of  which  this 
is  the  order,  that  men  should  be  brought  through 
sanctification  to  salvation.  He  hath  chosen  them, 
that  they  should  be  holy.  They  are  elected  to  par- 
don and  life  through  sanctification.  If  thou  canst 
repeal  the  law  of  God's  immutable  counsel,  or  cor- 
rupt him  whom  the  Father  hath  sealed,  to  go  di- 
rectly against  his  commission,  then,  and  not  other- 
wise, mayst  thou  get  to  heaven  in  this  condition. 


THE  NECESSITY  OP  CONVERSION.  69 

To  hope  that  Christ  -will  save  thee  while  unconverted, 
is  to  hope  that  Christ  will  falsify  his  trust.  He 
never  did,  nor  ever  will  save  one  soul  but  whom  the 
Father  hath  given  him  in  election,  and  drawn  to  him 
in  effectual  calhng.  Be  assured,  Christ  will  save 
none  in  a  way  contrary  to  his  Father's  will. 

(•2.)  To  save  men  in  their  sins  would  offer  violence 
to  all  the  attributes  of  God. 

To  his  justice  ;  for  the  righteousness  of  God's 
judgment  hes  in  rendering  to  all  according  to  their 
works.  Now,  should  men  sow  to  the  flesh,  and  yet 
of  the  Spirit  reap  everlasting  life,  where  were  the 
glory  of  divine  justice,  since  it  would  be  given  to  the 
wicked  according  to  the  work  of  the  righteous  ? 

To  his  holiness.  If  God  should  not  only  save 
sinners,  but  save  them  in  their  sins,  his  most  pure 
and  strict  holiness  would  be  exceedingly  defaced. 
The  unsanctified  are,  in  the  eyes  of  God's  holiness, 
exceedingly  vile  and  hateful.  It  would  be  offering 
the  extremest  violence  to  the  infinite  purity  of  the 
divine  nature  to  have  such  dwell  with  him.  "  They 
cannot  stand  in  his  judgment:  they  cannot  abide 
his  presence."  If  holy  David  would  not  endure 
such  in  his  house,  no,  nor  in  his  sight,  can  we  think 
God  will  ?  Should  he  take  men  as  they  are,  from 
the  mire  of  their  filthiness  to  the  glory  of  heaven, 
the  world  would  think  that  God  was  at  no  such 
great  distance  from  sin,  nor  had  any  such  dislike  to 
it  as  we  are  told  he  hath  ;  they  would  be  ready  to 


70  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

conclude  that  God  vras  altogether  such  a  one  as 
themselves,  as  some  of  old  wickedly  did,  from  the 
very  forbearance  of  God. 

To  his  veracity.  For  God  hath  declared  from 
heaven,  that  "  if  any  shall  say  he  shall  have  peace, 
though  he  should  go  on  in  the  imagination  of  his 
heart,  his  vrrath  shall  smoke  against  that  man ;" 
that  "they"  only  "that  confess  and  forsake  their 
sins  shall  find  mercy  ;"  that  "they  that  shall  enter 
into  his  hill  must  be  of  clean  hands  and  a  pure 
heart."  Deut.  29  :  19,  20;  Prov.  28  :  13;  Psalms 
24  :  3,  4.  Where  were  God's  truth,  if,  notwith- 
standing all  this,  he  should  bring  men  to  salvation 
without  conversion  ?  0  desperate  sinner,  that  darest 
to  hope  that  Christ  will  make  his  Father  a  liar,  and 
nullify  his  word  to  save  thee  ! 

To  his  wisdom.  For  this  were  to  throw  away  the 
choicest  of  mercies  on  them  that  would  not  value 
them,  nor  were  any  way  suited  to  them. 

They  would  not  value  them.  The  unsanctified 
sinner  puts  but  little  price  upon  God's  great  salva- 
tion. He  sets  no  more  by  Christ  than  the  whole  by 
the  physician.  He  prizes  not  his  balm,  values  not 
his  cure,  but  tramples  upon  his  blood.  Now,  would 
it  stand  with  wisdom  to  force  pardon  and  life  upon 
those  that  would  return  no  thanks  for  them  ?  Will 
the  all- wise  God,  when  he  hath  forbidden  us  to  do 
it,  throw  his  holy  things  to  dogs,  and  his  pearls  to 
swine,  that  would,  as  it  were,  but  turn  again  and 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CONVERSION.  71 

rend  him  ?  This  would  make  mercy  to  be  despised 
indeed.  Wisdom  requires  that  hfe  be  given  in  a 
way  suitable  to  God's  honor,  and  that  God  provide 
for  the  securing  of  his  own  glory  as  well  as  man's 
felicity.  It  would  be  dishonorable  to  God  to  bestow 
his  choicest  riches  on  them  that  have  more  pleasure 
in  their  sins  than  in  heavenly  delights.  God  would 
lose  the  praise  and  glory  of  his  grace,  if  he  should 
cast  it  away  upon  them  that  were  not  only  unworthy, 
but  unwilling. 

Also,  the  mercies  of  God  are  no  way  suited  to 
the  unconverted.  The  divine  wisdom  is  seen  in 
suiting  things  to  each  other,  the  means  to  the  end, 
the  object  to  the  faculty,  the  quality  of  the  gift  to 
the  capacity  of  the  receiver.  Now,  if  Christ  should 
bring  the  unregenerated  sinner  to  heaven,  he  could 
take  no  more  felicity  there  than  a  beast  would,  if 
you  should  bring  him  into  a  beautiful  room,  to  the 
society  of  learned  men ;  whereas  the  poor  thing  had 
much  rather  be  grazing  with  his  fellow-brutes. 
Alas,  what  could  an  unsanctified  creature  do  in 
heaven?  he  could  not  be  contented  there,  because 
nothing  suits  him.  The  place  doth  not  suit  him  ; 
he  would  be  quite  out  of  his  element,  a  fish  out  of 
water.  The  company  doth  not  suit  him  :  what  com- 
munion hath  darkness  with  light ;  corruption  with 
perfection ;  vileness  and  sin  with  glory  and  immor- 
tality ?  The  employment  doth  not  suit  him  ;  the 
anthems  of  heaven  fit  not  his  mouth,  suit  not  his 


72  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

ear.  Canst  thou  ctarm  thy  beast  with  music ;  or 
wilt  thou  bring  him  to  thy  organ  and  expect  that 
he  should  make  thee  melody,  or  keep  time  with  the 
tuneful  choir?  Had  he  skill,  he  would  have  no 
will,  and  so  could  find  no  pleasure  in  it.  Spread 
thy  table  with  delicacies  before  a  languishing  pa- 
tient, and  it  will  be  but  an  oflfence.  Alas,  if  the 
poor  man  say  of  a  Sabbath-day,  "  What  a  weariness 
is  it !"  how  miserable  would  he  think  it  to  be  en- 
gaged in  an  everlasting  Sabbath  ! 

To  his  immutability,  or  else  to  his  omniscience  or 
omnipotence  ;  for  this  is  enacted  in  heaven,  and  en- 
rolled in  the  decree  of  the  court  above,  that  none 
but  the  "  pure  in  heart  shall  see  God ;"  this  is  laid 
up  with  him,  and  sealed  among  his  treasures.  Now, 
if  Christ  bring  any  to  heaven  unconverted,  either  he 
must  get  them  in  without  his  Father's  knowledge, 
and  then  where  is  his  omniscience  ?  or  against  his 
will,  and  then  where  were  his  omnipotence  ?  or  he 
must  change  his  will,  and  then'  where  were  his  im- 
mutability ? 

Sinner,  wilt  thou  not  give  up  thy  vain  hope  of 
being  saved  in  this  condition  ?  Saith  Bildad,  "  Shall 
the  earth  be  forsaken  for  thee ;  or  the  rocks  be 
moved  out  of  their  place  ?"  May  I  not  much  more 
reason  so  with  thee  ?  Shall  the  laws  of  heaven  be 
reversed  for  thee?  Shall  the  everlasting  founda- 
tions be  overturned  for  thee  ?  Shall  Christ  put  out 
the  eye  of  his  Father's  omniscience,  or  shorten  the 


THE  NECESSITY  OP  CONVERSION,  73 

arm  of  his  eternal  power  for  thee  ?  Shall  divine 
justice  be  violated  for  thee ;  or  the  brightness  of  his 
holiness  be  blemished  for  thee?  0  the  impossi- 
bility, absurdity,  blasphemy,  of  such  a  confidence  ! 
To  think  Christ  will  ever  save  thee  in  this  condition, 
is  to  make  the  Saviour  become  a  sinner,  and  do  more 
wrong  to  the  infinite  Majesty  than  all  the  wicked  on 
earth  or  devils  in  hell  ever  did,  or  ever  could  do ; 
and  yet  wilt  thou  not  give  up  such  a  blasphemous 
hope  ? 

2.  To  save  men  in  their  sins  were  against  the  word 
of  Christ.  "We  need  not  say,  "Who  shall  ascend 
into  heaven,  to  bring  down  Christ  from  above  ?  Or, 
who  shall  descend  into  the  deep,  to  bring  up  Christ 
from  beneath  ?  The  word  is  nigh  us."  Are  you 
agreed  that  Christ  shall  end  the  controversy  ?  Hear 
then  his  own  words :  "  Except  ye  be  converted,  ye 
shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
"  You  must  be  born  again."  "  If  I  wash  thee  not, 
thou  hast  no  part  in  me."  "  Repent  or  perish." 
One  word,  one  would  think,  were  enough  from 
Christ ;  but  how  often  and  earnestly  doth  he  reite- 
rate it:  "Verily,  verily,  except  a  man  be  bom 
again,  he  shall  not  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  Yea, 
he  doth  not  only  assert  but  prove  the  necessity  of 
the  new  birth,  from  the  fleshliness  and  sinfulness  of 
man  from  his  first  birth,  by  reason  of  which  man 
is  no  more  fit  for  heaven  than  the  beast  is  for  the 
chamber  of  the  king.     And  wilt  thou  yet  rest  in  thy 


74  ALLEINE'S  AtARM. 

own  presumptuous  confidence,  directly  against 
Christ's  words  ?  He  must  go  quite  against  the 
law  of  his  kingdom,  and  rule  of  his  judgment,  to 
save  thee  in  this  state. 

3.  It  would  be  against  the  oath  of  Christ.  He 
hath  lifted  up  his  hand  to  heaven,  he  hath  sworn 
that  those  who  remain  in  unbelief  and  know  not  his 
ways — that  is,  are  ignorant  of  them,  or  disobedient 
to  them — shall  not  enter  into  his  rest.  And  wilt 
thou  not  yet  believe,  0  sinner,  that  he  is  in  earnest  ? 
Canst  thou  hope  he  will  be  forsworn  for  thee  ?  The 
covenant  of  grace  is  confirmed  by  an  oath  and  sealed 
by  blood ;  but  all  must  be  made  void,  and  another 
way  to  heaven  found  out,  if  thou  be  saved,  living 
and  dying  unsanctified.  God  is  come  to  his  last 
terms  with  man,  and  has  condescended  as  far  as  in 
honor  he  could.  Men  cannot  be  saved  while  uncon- 
verted, except  they  could  get  another  covenant 
made,  and  the  whole  frame  of  the  Gospel,  which 
was  established  for  ever  with  such  dreadful  solem- 
nities, quite  altered.  And  must  not  thev  be  dis- 
tracted, to  hope  that  they  shall  ? 

4.  It  would  be  against  his  honor.  God  will  so 
show  his  love  to  the  sinner,  as  withal  to  show  his 
hatred  to  sin  ;  therefore,  he  that  names  the  name  of 
Jesus  must  "  depart  from  iniquity  and  deny  all  un- 
godliness ;"  and  he  that  hath  hope  of  life  by  Christ 
must  "  purify  himself  as  he  is  pure,"  otherwise 
Christ  would  be  thought  a  favorer  of  sin.     The 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CONVERSION.  75 

Lord  Jesus  would  have  all  the  world  know,  that 
though  he  pardons  sin,  he  will  not  protect  it.  If 
holy  David  say,  "  Depart  from  me,  all  ye  workers 
of  iniquity,"  Psa.  6  :  8,  and  shut  the  doors  against 
them,  Psa.  101  :  7,  shall  not  such  more  expect  it 
from  Christ's  holiness  ? 

5.  It  would  be  against  his  offices.  "  God  hath 
exalted  him  to  be  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour,"  He 
would  act  against  both,  should  he  save  men  in  their 
sins.  It  is  the  office  of  a  king  to  be  "  a  terror  to 
evil-doers,  and  a  praise  to  them  that  do  well."  "  He 
is  a  minister  of  God,  a  revenger  to  execute  wrath 
on  him  that  doeth  evil."  Kow,  should  Christ  favor 
the  ungodly,  so  continuing,  and  take  those  to  reign 
with  him  that  would  not  that  he  should  reign  over 
them,  this  would  be  quite  against  his  office ;  he 
therefore  reigns  that  he  may  "  put  his  enemies  under 
his  feet."  Now,  should  he  lay  them  in  his  bosom, 
he  would  frustrate  the  end  of  his  regal  power ;  it 
belongs  to  Christ,  as  a  King,  to  subdue  the  hearts 
and  slay  the  lusts  of  his  chosen.  What  king  would 
take  rebels  in  open  hostility  into  his  court  ?  What 
were  this  but  to  betray  life,  kingdom,  government, 
and  all  together  ?  If  Christ  be  a  Kingr,  he  must 
have  honor,  homage,  subjection.  Now,  to  save  men 
while  in  their  natural  enmity,  were  to  obscure  his 
dignity,  lose  his  authority,  bring  contempt  on  his 
government,  and  sell  his  dear-bought  rights  for 
naught. 


76  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

Again,  as  Christ  would  not  be  a  Prince,  so  neither 
a  Saviour,  if  he  should  do  this ;  for  his  salvation  is 
spiritual.  He  is  called  Jesus,  because  he  saves  his 
people  from  their  sins.  Matt.  1  :  21.  So  that,  should 
he  save  them  in  their  sins,  he  would  be  neither  Lord 
nor  Jesus.  To  save  men  from  the  punishment,  and 
not  from  the  power  of  sin,  were  to  do  his  work  by 
halves,  and  be  an  imperfect  Saviour.  His  office  as 
the  Deliverer,  is  "to  turn  away  ungodliness  from 
Jacob."  "  He  is  sent  to  bless  men,  in  turning  them 
from  their  iniquities,"  "To  make  an  end  of  sin." 
So  that  he  would  destroy  his  own  designs,  and  nul- 
lify his  offices,  to  save  men  abiding  in  their  uncon- 
verted state. 

Arise,  then !  What  meanest  thou,  0  sleeper  ? 
Awake,  0  secure  sinner,  lest  thou  be  consumed  in 
thine  iniquities  :  say,  as  the  lepers,  "If  we  sit  here, 
we  shall  die."  Verily,  it  is  not  more  certain  that 
thou  art  now  out  of  hell,  than  that  thou  shalt 
speedily  be  in  it,  except  thou  repent  and  be  con- 
verted :  there  is  but  this  one  door  for  thee  to  escape 
by.  Arise  then,  0  sluggard,  and  shake  off  thine 
excuses :  how  long  wilt  thou  slumber,  and  fold  thy 
hands  to  sleep  ?  Wilt  thou  lie  down  in  the  midst 
of  the  sea,  or  sleep  on  the  top  of  a  mast  ?  There  is 
no  remedy,  but  thou  must  either  turn  or  burn. 
There  is  an  unchangeable  necessity  of  the  change  of 
thy  condition,  except  thou  hast  resolved  to  abide  the 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CONVERSION.  77 

worst  of  it,  and  try  it  out  with  the  Almighty.  If 
thou  lovest  thy  life,  0  man,  arise  and  come  away. 
Methinks  I  see  the  Lord  Jesus  laying  the  merciful 
hands  of  a  holy  violence  upon  thee ;  methinks  he 
acts  hke  the  angels  to  Lot :  "  Then  the  angels  hast- 
ened Lot,  saying.  Arise,  lest  thou  be  consumed. 
And,  while  he  lingered,  the  men  laid  hold  upon  his 
hand,  the  Lord  being  merciful  unto  him ;  and  they 
brought  him  without  the  city,  and  said.  Escape  for 
thy  life,  stay  not  in  all  the  plain ;  escape  to  the 
mountains,  lest  thou  be  consumed." 

O  how  wilful  will  thy  destruction  be  if  thou 
shouldst  yet  harden  thyself  in  thy  sinful  state !  But 
none  of  you  can  say  that  you  have  not  had  fair 
warning.  Yet  methinks  I  cannot  leave  you  so.  It 
is  not  enojigh  for  me  to  have  dehvered  my  own  soul. 
What,  shall  I  go  away  without  my  errand  ?  Will 
none  of  you  arise  and  follow  me  ?  Have  I  been  all 
this  while  speaking  to  the  wind ;  have  I  been 
charming  the  deaf  adder,  or  allaying  the  restless 
ocean  with  argument  ?  Do  I  speak  to  the  trees  and 
rocks,  or  to  men ;  to  the  tombs  and  monuments  of 
the  dead,  or  to  the  living  ?  If  you  be  men,  and  not 
senseless  stocks,  stop  and  consider  whither  you  are 
going ;  if  you  have  the  reason  and  understanding  of 
men,  dare  not  to  run  into  the  flames,  and  fall  into 
hell  with  your  eyes  open ;  but  bethink  yoxirselves, 
and  set  to  the  work  of  repentance.  What,  men, 
and  yet  run  into  the  pit,  when  the  very  beasts  will 


78  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

not  be  forced  in  ?  What,  endowed  with  reason,  and 
yet  trifle  with  death  and  hell,  and  the  vengeance  of 
the  Almighty  ?  Are  men  herein  only  distinguished 
from  very  brutes,  that  these,  having  no  foresight, 
have  no  care  to  provide  for  the  things  to  come ; 
and  will  you,  who  are  warned,  not  hasten  your  es- 
cape from  eternal  torments?  O  show  yourselves 
men,  and  let  reason  prevail  with  you. 

Is  it  a  reasonable  thing  for  you  to  contend  against 
the  Lord  your  Maker,  or  "  to  harden  yoiirselves 
against  his  word,"  Job  9  :  4,  as  though  the  Strength 
of  Israel  would  lie  ?  Is  it  reasonable  that  an  un- 
derstanding creature  should  lose,  yea,  live  quite 
against  the  very  end  of  his  being  ?  Is  it  reasonable 
that  the  only  being  in  this  world  that  God  hath 
made  capable  of  knowing  his  will  and  bringing  him 
glory,  should  yet  live  in  ignorance  of  his  Maker, 
and  be  unserviceable  to  his  use,  yea,  should  be  en- 
gaged against  him,  and  resist  his  Creator  ?  "Hear, 
O  heavens,  and  give  ear,  O  earth,"  and  let  the 
creatures  without  sense  judge  if  this  be  reason,  that 
man,  whom  God  hath  "  nourished  and  brought  up, 
should  rebel  against  him?"  Judge  in  your  own 
selves.  Is  it  a  reasonable  undertaking  for  briers  and 
thorns  to  set  themselves  in  battle  against  the  devour- 
ing fire ;  or  for  the  potsherd  of  the  earth  to  strive 
with  its  Maker  ?  You  will  say,  "  This  is  not  reason ;" 
or  surely  the  eye  of  reason  is  quite  put  out.  And, 
if  this  be  not  reason,  then  there  is  no  reason  that 


THE  NECESSITY  OP  CONVERSION.  79 

you  should  continue  as  you  are,  but  there  is  all  the 
reason  in  the  world  that  you  should  forthwith  turn 
and  repent. 

What  shall  I  say  ?  I  could  spend  myself  in  this 
argument.  O  that  you  would  but  hearken  to  me  ; 
that  you  would  now  set  upon  a  new  course !  Will 
you  not  be  made  clean  ?  When  shall  it  once  be  ? 
Reader,  wilt  thou  sit  down  and  consider  the  fore- 
mentioned  argument,  and  debate  it,  whether  it  be 
not  best  to  turn  ?  Come,  and  let  us  reason  together : 
Is  it  good  for  thee  to  be  here  ?  Wilt  thou  sit  till 
the  tide  come  in  upon  thee  ?  Is  it  good  for  thee  to 
try  whether  God  will  be  as  good  as  his  word,  and 
to  harden  thyself  in  a  conceit  that  all  is  well  with 
thee  while  thou  remainest  unsanctified  ? 

Alas,  for  such  sinners !  must  they  perish  at  last 
by  hundreds  ?  What  course  shall  I  use  with  them 
that  I  have  not  tried  ?  "  What  shall  I  do  for  the 
daughter  of  my  people  ?"  0  Lord  God,  help.  Alas, 
shall  I  leave  them  thus  ?  If  they  will  not  hear  me, 
yet  do  thou  hear  me.  0  that  they  may  yet  live  in 
thy  sight !  Lord,  save  them,  or  they  perish.  My 
heart  would  melt  to  see  their  houses  on  fire  when 
they  were  fast  asleep  in  their  beds ;  and  shall  not 
my  soul  be  moved  within  me  to  see  them  falling 
into  endless  perdition  ?  Lord,  have  compassion,  and 
save  them  out  of  the  burning :  put  forth  thy  divine 
power,  and  the  work  will  be  done. 


80  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    MARKS    OF    THE    UNCONVERTED. 

While  we  keep  aloof  in  generals  there  is  little 
fruit  to'  be  expected  ;  it  is  the  hand-fight  that  does 
execution.  David  is  not  avrakened  by  the  prophet's 
hovering  at  a  distance  in  parabolical  insinuations. 
He  is  forced  to  close  with  him,  and  tell  him  plainly, 
"  Thou  art  the  man."  Few  will,  in  words,  deny 
the  necessity  of  the  new  birth ;  but  they  have  a 
self-deluding  confidence  that  the  work  is  not  now  to 
do.  And  because  they  know  themselves  free  from 
that  gross  hypocrisy  which  takes  up  religion  merely 
for  a  color  to  deceive  others,  and  for  covering  wicked 
designs,  they  are  confident  of  their  sincerity,  and 
suspect  not  that  more  close  hypocrisy,  wherein  the 
greatest  danger  lies,  by  which  a  man  deceiveth  his 
own  soul.  But  man's  deceitful  heart  is  such  a 
matchless  cheat,  and  self-delusion  so  reigning  and 
so  fatal  a  disease,  that  I  know  not  whether  be  the 
greater,  the  difficulty  or  the  necessity  of  the  unde- 
ceiving work  that  I  am  now  upon.  Alas  for  the 
unconverted  !  they  must  be  undeceived,  or  they  will 
be  undone.     But  how  shall  this  be  effected  ? 

Help,  O  all-searching  Light,  and  let  thy  discern- 
ing eye  discover  the  rotten  foundation  of  the  self- 
deceiver  ;  and  lead  me,  O  Lord  God,  as  thou  didst 
the  prophet,  into  the  chambers  of  imagery,  and  dig 


THE  MARKS  OP  THE  UNCONVERTED.  81 

through  the  wall  of  sinners'  hearts,  and  discover 
the  hidden  abominations  that  are  lurking  out  of 
sight  in  the  dark.  O  send  thy  angel  before  me  to 
open  the  sundry  wards  of  their  hearts,  as  thou  didst 
before  Peter,  and  make  even  the  iron  gates  fly  open 
of  their  own  accord.  And  as  Jonathan  no  sooner 
tasted  the  honey  but  his  eyes  were  enlightened,  so 
grant,  0  Lord,  that  when  the  poor  deceived  souls 
with  whom  I  have  to  do  shall  cast  their  eyes  upon 
these  lines,  their  minds  may  be  illuminated,  and 
their  consciences  convinced  and  awakened,  that  they 
may  see  with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears, 
and  be  converted,  and  thou  mayest  heal  them. 

This  must  be  premised  before  we  proceed,  that  it 
is  most  certain  men  may  have  a  confident  persuasion 
that  their  hearts  and  states  are  good,  while  yet  they 
are  unsound.  Hear  the  Truth  himself,  who  shows, 
in  Laodicea's  case,  that  men  may  be  wretched,  and 
miserable,  and  poor,  and  blind,  and  naked,  and  yet  not 
know  it ;  yea,  they  may  be  confident  they  are  rich, 
and  increased  in  grace.  Rev.  3:17.  "  There  is  a 
generation  that  are  pure  in  their  own  eyes,  and  yet 
are  not  washed  from  their  filthiness."  Prov.  30  :  12. 
Who  better  persuaded  of  his  fate  than  Paul,  while  he 
yet  remained  imconverted  ?  Rom.  Y  :  9.  So  that  they 
are  miserably  deceived  who  take  a  strong  confidence 
for  a  sufiicient  evidence.  They  that  have  no  better 
proof  than  barely  a  strong  persuasion  that  they  are 
converted,  are  certainly  as  yet  strangers  to  conversion, 

AUfiiM^  Alum.  g 


83  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

But  to  come  more  close.  As  it  was  said  to  the 
adherents  of  Antichrist,  so  here ;  some  of  the  un- 
converted carry  their  marks  in  their  forehead  more 
openly,  and  some  in  their  hands  more  covertly. 
The  apostle  reckons  up  some  upon  whom  he  writes 
the  sentence  of  death;  as  in  these  dreadful  cata- 
logues, which  I  beseech  you  to  attend  to  with  all 
diligence :  "  For  this  ye  know,  that  no  whoremon- 
ger, nor  unclean  person,  nor  covetous  man,  who  is 
an  idolater,  hath  any  inheritance  in  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  and  of  God.  Let  no  man  deceive  you  with 
vain  words  ;  for  because  of  these  things  cometh  the 
wrath  of  God  upon  the  children  of  disobedience." 
Eph.  5:5,6.  "  But  the  fearful,  and  unbelieving, 
and  abominable,  and  murderers,  and  whoremongers, 
and  sorcerers,  and  idolaters,  and  all  liars,  shall  have 
their  part  in  the  lake  that  burns  with  fire  and  brim- 
stone, which  is  the  second  death."  Rev.  21:8. 
"  Know  ye  not  that  the  unrighteous  shall  not  inherit 
the  kingdom  of  God  ?  Be  not  deceived :  neither 
fornicators,  nor  idolaters,  nor  adulterers,  nor  effemi- 
nate, nor  abusers  of  themselves  with  mankind,  nor 
thieves,  nor  covetous,  nor  drunkards,  nor  revilers, 
nor  extortioners,  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God." 
1  Cor.  6  :  9,  10.  Woe  to  them  that  have  their  name 
written  in  this  catalogue.  Such  may  know,  as  cer- 
tainly as  if  God  had  told  them  from  heaven,  that 
they  are  unsanctified,  and  under  an  impossibility  of 
being  saved  in  this  condition. 


THE  MARKS  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.       83 

There  are  then  these  several  classes  that,  past  all 
dispute,  are  unconverted ;  they  carry  their  marks 
in  their  foreheads. 

1.  The  unclean.  These  are  ever  reckoned  among 
the  goats,  and  have  their  names,  whoever  is  left  out, 
in  all  the  forementioned  catalogues. 

2.  The  covetous.  These  are  ever  branded  for 
idolaters,  and  the  doors  of  the  kingdom  are  shut 
against  them  by  name. 

3.  Drunkards.  Not  only  such  as  drink  away 
their  reason,  but  withal,  yea,  above  all,  such  as  are 
too  strong  for  strong  drink.  The  Lord  fills  his 
mouth  with  woes  against  these,  and  declares  them 
to  have  no  inheritance  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Isa. 
5:11,  12,  22;  Gal.  5:  21. 

4.  Liars.  The  God  that  cannot  lie  has  told  them 
that  there  is  no  place  for  them  in  his  kingdom,  no 
entrance  into  his  hill ;  but  their  portion  is  with  the 
father  of  lies,  whose  children  they  are,  in  the  lake 
of  burnings.  Rev.  21:8,  27. 

6.  Swearers.  The  end  of  these,  without  deep 
and  speedy  repentance,  is  swift  destruction,  and 
most  certain  and  unavoidable  condemnation.  James 
5:12. 

6.  Railers  and  backbiters,  that  love  to  take  up  a 
reproach  against  their  neighbor,  and  revile  him  to  his 
face,  or  else  wound  him  secretly  behind  his  back. 
Psalm  15  :  1,  3. 

7.  Thieves,   extortioners,   oppressors,    that  grind 


84  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

the  poor,  or  overreach  their  brethren  when  they 
have  an  opportunity :  these  must  know  that  God 
"is  the  avenger  of  all  such."  Hear,  0  ye  false  and 
purloining  and  wasteful  servants ;  hear,  0  ye  de- 
ceitful tradesmen,  hear  your  sentence  !  God  will 
certainly  shut  his  door  against  you,  and  turn  your 
treasures  of  unrighteousness  into  the  treasures  of 
wrath,  and  make  your  ill-gotten  silver  and  gold  to 
torment  you,  like  burning  metal  in  your  bowels. 

8.  All  that  do  ordinarily  live  in  the  profane  neg- 
lect of  God's  worship,  that  hear  not  his  word,  that 
call  not  on  his  name,  that  restrain  prayer  before 
God,  that  mind  not  their  own  nor  their  families' 
souls,  but  "live  without  God  in  the  world." 

9.  Those  that  are  frequenters  and  lovers  of  vain 
company.  God  hath  declared,  he  will  be  the  de- 
stroyer of  all  such,  and  that  they  shall  never  enter 
into  the  hill  of  his  rest.  Pro  v.  9  :  6,  and  13 :  20. 

10.  Scoffers  at  religion,  that  make  a  scorn  of  pre- 
cise walking,  and  mock  at  the  messengers  and  dili- 
gent  servants  of  the  Lord,  and  at  their  holy  pro- 
fession, and  make  themselves  merry  with  the  weak- 
ness and  failings  of  professors :  "  Hear,  ye  despisers," 
hear  your  dreadfid  doom  !  Prov.  19 :  29,  and  3  :  34. 

Sinner,  consider  diligently  whether  thou  art  not 
to  be  found  in  one  of  these  ranks  ;  for  if  this  be  thy 
case,  thou  art  in  the  "  gall  of  bitterness  and  bond 
of  iniquity ;"  for  all  these  do  carry  their  marks  in 
their  foreheads,  and  are  undoubtedly  the  sons  of 


THE  MARKS  OP  THE  UNCONVERTED.       85 

death.  And  if  so,  the  Lord  pity  our  poor  congre- 
gations. 0  how  small  a  number  will  remain,  when 
these  ten  sorts  are  left  out.  May  God  show  you 
your  danger,  and  constrain  you  to  cry,  "Lord,  have 
mercy  upon  us !" 

Sirs,  what  shift  do  you  make  to  keep  up  your 
confidence  of  your  good  state,  when  God  from 
heaven  declares  against  you,  and  pronounces  you  in 
a  state  of  damnation  ?  I  would  reason  with  you  as 
God  with  them,  "  How  canst  thou  say,  I  am  not 
polluted  ?  See  thy  way  in  the  valley ;  know  what 
thou  hast  done."  Man,  is  not  thy  conscience  privy 
to  thy  tricks  of  deceit,  to  thy  secret  sins,  to  thy  way 
of  lying  ?  Yea,  are  not  thy  friends,  thy  family,  thy 
neighbors,  witnesses  to  thy  profane  neglect  of  God's 
worship,  to  thy  covetous  practices,  to  thy  envious 
and  mahcious  carriage  ?  May  they  not  point  at  thee 
as  thou  goest.  There  goes  a  gaming  prodigal ;  there 
goes  a  drunken  Nabal,  a  companion  of  evil-doers ; 
there  goes  a  railer,  or  a  scoffer,  or  a  licentious  per- 
son ?  Beloved,  God  hath  written  it  as  with  a  sun- 
beam, in  the  book  by  which  you  must  be  judged, 
that  these  are  not  the  spots  of  his  children,  and  that 
none  such,  except  renewed  by  converting  grace, 
shall  ever  escape  the  damnation  of  hell. 

0  that  you  would  now  be  persuaded  to  "  repent 
and  turn  from  all  your  transgressions,  or  else  iniquity 
will  be  your  ruin."  Alas,  for  poor  hardened  sin- 
ners.    Must  I  leave  you  at  last  where  you  are? 


86  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

However,  you  must  kno-w  that  you  have  been  ■warned, 
and  that  I  am  clear  of  your  blood ;  and  whether 
men  will  hear,  or  whether  they  will  forbear,  I  will 
leave  these  Scriptures  with  them,  which  will  prove 
either  as  thunderbolts  to  awaken  them,  or  as  searing- 
irons  to  harden  them.  "  God  shall  Avound  the  head 
of  his  enemies,  and  the  hairy  scalp  of  such  an  one 
as  goeth  on  still  in  his  trespasses."  "  He  that,  being 
often  reproved,  hardeneth  his  neck,  shall  suddenly 
be  destroyed,  and  that  without  remedy."  "Be- 
cause I  have  called,  and  ye  refused ;  I  have  stretched 
out  my  hand,  and  no  man  regarded,  etc.  I  will 
laugh  at  your  calamity — when  your  destruction 
cometh  as  a  whirlwind." 

And  now  I  imagine  many  will  begin  to  bless  them- 
selves, and  think  all  is  well,  because  they  cannot  be 
reproached  with  these  grosser  evils ;  but  I  must  tell 
you  that  there  is  another  sort  of  unsanctified  per- 
sons, that  carry  not  their  mark  in  their  foreheads, 
but  more  secretly  and  covertly.  These  do  frequent- 
ly deceive  themselves  and  others,  and  pass  for  good 
Christians,  when  they  are  all  the  while  unsoimd  at 
heart.  Many  pass  undiscovered,  till  death  and  judg- 
ment bring  all  to  light.  Those  self- deceivers  seem 
to  come  even  to  heaven's  gate  with  confidence  of 
their  admission,  and  yet  are  turned  off  at  last.  I 
beseech  you  deeply  to  lay  to  heart  and  firmly  retain 
this  awakening  consideration,  that  multitudes  mis- 


THE  MARKS  OP  THE  UNCONVERTED.       87 

carry  hy  the  hand  of  some  secret  sin,  that  is  not  only 
hidden  from  others,  but  for  want  of  observing  their 
own  hearts,  even  from  themselves.  A  man  may  be 
free  from  open  pollutions,  and  yet  die  at  last  by  the 
fatal  hand  of  some  unobserved  iniquity ;  and  there 
are  these  twelve  hidden  sins,  through  which  souls 
go  down  by  numbers  into  the  chambers  of  eternal 
death :  these  you  must  search  carefully  for,  and  take 
them  as  black  marks,  wherever  they  be  foimd, 
discovering  a  graceless  and  unconverted  state ;  and 
as  you  love  your  lives,  read  carefully,  with  a  holy 
jealousy  of  yourselves,  lest  you  should  be  the  per- 
sons concerned. 

1.  Gross  wilful  ignorance.  O  how  many  poor 
souls  doth  this  sin  kill  in  the  dark,  Hos.  4  :  6,  wliile 
they  think  verily  they  have  good  hearts,  and  are  in 
the  ready  way  to  heaven.  This  is  the  murderer 
that  despatcheth  thousands  in  a  sUent  maimer,  when 
they  suspect  nothing,  and  see  not  the  hand  that  de- 
stroys them.  You  shall  find,  whatever  excuses  you 
make  for  ignorance,  that  it  is  a  soul -ruining  evil. 
Isa.  27:11;  2  Thess.  1:8;  2  Cor.  4:3.  Ah, 
would  it  not  have  grieved  a  man's  heart  to  see  that 
woful  spectacle,  when  the  poor  Protestants  were 
shut  up  in  a  barn,  and  a  butcher  came,  with  his  in- 
human hands  warmed  in  human  blood,  and  led  them 
one  by  one,  blindfold,  to  a  block,  where  he  slew 
them,  one  after  another,  by  scores,  in  cool  blood? 
But  how  much  more  should  your  hearts  bleed  to 


88  ALLEINE'S  ALARM.  ^ 

think  of  the  hundreds,  in  great  congregations,  that 
ignorance  doth  destroy  in  secret,  and  lead  blindfold 
to  the  block.  Beware  that  this  be  not  your  case. 
Make  no  plea  for  ignorance ;  if  you  spare  that  sin, 
know  that  it  will  not  spare  you ;  and  would  a  man 
keep  a  murderer  in  his  bosom  ? 

2.  Secret  reserves  in  closing  with  Christ.  To  for- 
sake all  for  Christ,  to  hate  father  and  mother,  yea, 
a  man's  own  life  for  him,  Luke  14  :  26,  "This  is  a 
hard  saying."  Some  will  do  much,  but  they  will 
not  have  the  religion  that  will  save  them :  they 
never  come  to  be  entirely  devoted  to  Christ,  nor 
fully  to  resign  to  him :  they  must  have  the  sweet 
sin ;  they  mean  to  do  themselves  no  harm ;  they 
have  secret  exceptions  for  life,  liberty,  or  estate. 
Many  take  Christ  thus,  and  never  consider  his  self- 
denying  terms,  nor  count  the  cost ;  and  this  error  in 
the  foundation  mars  all,  and  ruins  them  forever. 
Luke  14 :  28-33. 

3.  Formality  in  religion.  Many  rest  in  the  out- 
side of  religion,  and  in  the  external  performance  of 
holy  duties.  And  this  oftentimes  doth  most  effect- 
ually deceive  men,  and  more  certainly  undo  them 
than  open  profaneness ;  as  it  was  in  the  Pharisee's 
case.  They  hear,  they  fast,  they  pray,  they  give 
alms,  and  therefore  will  not  believe  but  their  case 
is  good.  Whereas,  resting  in  the  work  done,  and 
coming  short  of  the  heart-work  and  the  inward 
power  and  vitality  of  religion,  they  fall  at  last  into 


THE  MARKS  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED,       89 

the  burning,  from  the  flattering  hope  and  confident 
persuasion  of  their  being  in  the  ready  way  to  heaven, 
0  dreadful  case,  when  a  man's  rehgion  shall  serve 
only  to  harden  him,  and  eflectually  to  delude  and 
deceive  his  own  soul ! 

4,  The  prevalence  of  false  ends  in  holy  duties. 
This  was  the  bane  of  the  Pharisees,  0  how  many 
a  poor  soul  is  undone  by  this,  and  drops  into  hell 
before  he  discerns  his  mistake !  He  performs  his 
"  good  duties,"  and  so  thinks  all  is  well,  but  per- 
ceives not  that  he  is  actuated  by  carnal  motives  all 
the  while.  It  is  too  true,  that,  even  with  the  really 
sanctified,  many  carnal  ends  will  ofttimes  creep  in  ; 
but  they  are  the  matter  of  their  hatred  and  humilia- 
tion, and  never  come  to  be  habitually  prevalent  with 
them,  and  bear  the  greatest  sway.  But  when  the 
main  thing  that  doth  ordinarily  carry  a  man  out  to 
religious  duties  shall  be  some  carnal  end — as  to 
satisfy  his  conscience,  to  get  the  reputation  of  being 
religious,  "  to  be  seen  of  men,"  to  show  his  own 
gifts  and  parts,  to  avoid  the  reproach  of  being  a 
profane  and  irreligious  person,  or  the  like — this 
discovers  an  unsound  heart,  0  Christian,  if  you 
would  avoid  self-deceit,  see  that  you  mind  not  only 
your  acts,  but  above  all  your  ends. 

5,  Trusting  in  their  own  righteousness.  This  is 
a  soul-ruining  mischief,  ,  When  men  trust  in  their 
o\m  righteousness  they  do  indeed  reject  Christ's. 
Beloved,  you  had  need  be  watchful  on  every  hand ; 


9D  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

for,  not  only  your  sins,  but  your  duties  may  undo 
you.  It  may  be  you  never  thought  of  this ;  but 
so  it  is,  that  a  man  may  as  certainly  miscarry  by 
his  seeming  righteousness  and  supposed  graces  as 
by  gross  sins ;  and  that  is,  when  a  man  doth  trust 
to  these  as  his  righteousness  before  God,  for  satis- 
fying his  justice,  appeasing  his  wrath,  procuring  his 
favor,  and  obtaining  his  own  pardon ;  for  this  is  to 
put  Christ  out  of  office,  and  make  a  Saviour  of  our 
own  duties  and  graces.  Beware  of  this,  0  profes- 
sors ;  you  are  much  in  duties,  but  this  one  fly  will 
spoil  all  the  ointment.  When  you  have  done  most 
and  best,  be  sure  to  go  out  of  yourselves  to  Christ ; 
reckon  your  own  righteousness  but  filthy  rags. 
Phil.  3:9;  Isa.  64  :  6. 

6.  A  secret  enmity/  against  the  strictness  of  religion. 
Many  moral  persons,  punctual  in  their  formal  devo^ 
tions,  have  yet  a  bitter  enmity  against  strictness  and 
zeal,  and  hate  the  life  and  power  of  religion.  They 
like  not  this  forwardness,  nor  that  men  should  make 
such  a  stir  in  religion ;  they  condemn  the  strictness 
of  religion  as  singularity,  indiscretion,  and  intem- 
perate zeal,  and  with  them  a  lively  preacher  or 
lively  Christian  is  but  an  enthusiast.  These  men 
love  not  holiness  as  holiness,  for  then  they  would 
love  the  height  of  holiness,  and  therefore  are  un- 
doubtedly rotten  at  heart,  whatever  good  opinion 
they  have  of  themselves. 

T.    The  resting  in  a  certain  degree  of  religion. 


THE  MARKS  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.       91 

"When  they  have  so  much  as  "will  save  them,  as 
they  suppose,  they  look  no  farther,  and  so  show 
themselves  short  of  true  grace,  which  will  ever  put 
men  upon  aspiring  to  perfection.  Phil.  3  :  13  ;  Pro  v. 
4:18. 

8.  The  predominant  love  of  the  world.  This  is 
the  sure  evidence  of  an  unsanctified  heart.  "  If  any 
man  love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in 
him."  But  how  close  does  this  sin  lurk  ofttimes 
imder  the  fair  covert  of  forward  profession.  Yea, 
such  a  power  of  deceit  is  there  in  this  sin,  that  many 
times,  when  every  body  else  can  see  the  man's  world- 
liness  and  covetousness,  he  cannot  see  it  himself, 
but  hath  so  many  colors,  and  excuses,  and  pre- 
tences, for  his  eagerness  after  the  world,  that  he 
doth  blind  his  own  eyes,  and  perish  in  his  self-de- 
ceit. How  many  professors  are  there  with  whom 
the  world  hath  more  of  their  hearts  and  affections 
than  Christ;  "who  mind  earthly  things,"  and 
thereby  are  evidently  after  the  flesh,  and  like  to 
end  in  destruction.  Yet  ask  these  men,  and  they 
will  tell  you  confidently  they  prize  Christ  above  all ; 
for  they  see  not  their  own  earthly-mindedness,  for 
want  of  a  strict  observance  of  the  workings  of  their 
own  hearts.  Did  they  but  carefully  search,  they 
woiild  quickly  find  that  their  greatest  satisfaction 
is  in  the  world,  and  that  their  greatest  care  and  main 
endeavor  are  to  get  and  secure  the  world,  which 
are  the  certain  signs  of  an  unconverted  sinner.     May 


92  ALLEINE'S  ALARM 

the  professing  part  of  the  world  take  earnest  heed 
that  they  perish  not  by  the  hand  of  this  sin  unob- 
served. Men  may  be,  and  often  are,  kept  off  from 
Christ  as  effectually  by  the  inordinate  love  of  lawful 
comforts,  as  by  the  most  unlawful  courses. 

9.  Reigning  malice  and  envy  against  those  that 
disrespect  them,  and  are  injurious  to  them.  0, 
how  do  many,  that  seem  to  be  religious,  remember 
injuries  and  carry  grudges,  rendering  evil  for  evil, 
loving  to  take  revenge,  wishing  evil  to  them  that 
wrong  them :  directly  against  the  rule  of  the  Gos- 
pel, the  pattern  of  Christ,  and  the  nature  of  God. 
Doubtless,  where  this  evil  is  kept  boiling  in  the 
heart,  and  is  not  hated,  resisted,  and  mortified,  but 
doth  habitually  prevail,  that  person  is  in  the  very- 
gall  of  bitterness,  and  in  a  state  of  death.  Matt. 
18:  32-35;  1  John,  3:  14,  15. 

Reader,  doth  nothing  of  this  touch  thee  ?  Art 
thou  in  none  of  the  forementioned  ranks  ?  0  search, 
and  search  again ;  take  thy  heart  solemnly  to  task. 
Woe  unto  thee  if,  after  thy  profession,  thou  shouldst 
be  found  under  the  power  of  ignorance,  lost  in 
formality,  drowned  in  earthly-mindedness,  enven- 
omed with  malice,  exalted  in  an  opinion  of  thine 
own  righteousness,  leavened  with  hypocrisy  and 
carnal  ends  in  God's  service,  and  imbittered  against 
strictness  ;  this  would  be  a  sad  evidence  that  all  thy 
religion  were  in  vain.     But  I  must  proceed. 

10.  JJnmortified pride.    When  men  love  the  praisf 


THE  MARKS  OP  THE  UNCONVERTED.       93 

of  men  more  than  the  praise  of  God,  and  set  their 
hearts  upon  men's  esteem,  applause,  and  appi'oba- 
tion,  it  is  most  certain  that  they  are  yet  in  their  sins, 
and  strangers  to  true  conversion.  When  men  see 
not,  nor  complain,  nor  groan  under  the  pride  of  their 
own  hearts,  it  is  a  sign  they  are  dead  in  sin.  0, 
how  secretly  doth  this  sin  live  and  reign  in  many 
hearts,  and  they  know  it  not,  but  are  very  strangers 
to  themselves.  John  9  :  40. 

11.  The  prevailing  love  of  pleasure.  This  is  a 
black  mark.  When  men  give  the  flesh  the  liberty 
that  it  craves,  and  pamper  and  please  it,  and  do  not 
deny  and  restrain  it ;  when  their  great  delight  is  in 
gratifying  their  appetites  and  pleasing  their  senses  ; 
whatever  appearances  they  may  have  of  religion,  all 
is  unsound.  A  flesh-pleasing  life  cannot  be  pleasing 
to  God  :  "  They  that  are  Christ's  have  crucified  the 
flesh,"  and  are  careful  to  keep  it  under,  as  their  en- 
emy. Gal.  5  :  24 ;  1  Cor.  9 :  25-27. 

12.  Carnal  security,  or  a  presumptuous  confidence 
that  their  condition  is  already  good.  Many  cry, 
peace  and  safety,  when  sudden  destruction  is  com- 
ing upon  them.  This  was  that  which  kept  the  fool- 
ish virgins  sleeping  when  they  should  have  been 
working — upon  their  beds  when  they  should  have 
been  at  the  markets.  They  perceived  not  their 
want  of  oil,  till  the  bridegroom  was  come ;  and  while 
they  went  to  buy,  the  door  was  shut.  And  O,  that 
these  foolish  virgins  had  no  successors !    Where  ia 


ft  ALLEUNTE'S  ALARM. 

the  place,  yea,  wliere  is  the  house  almost,  where 
these  do  not  dwell  ?  Men  are  wiUing  to  cherish  in 
themselves,  upon  ever  so  slight  grounds,  a  hope 
that  their  condition  is  good,  and  so  look  not  out  after 
a  change,  and  by  these  means  perish  in  their  sins. 
Are  you  at  peace  ?  Show  me  upon  what  grounds 
your  peace  is  maintained.  Is  it  Scripture  peace  ? 
Can  you  show  the  distinguishing  marks  of  a  sound 
believer?  Can  you  evidence  that  you  have  some- 
thing more  than  any  hypocrite  in  the  world  ever 
had  ?  If  not,  fear  this  peace  more  than  any  trouble ; 
and  know  that  a  carnal  peace  doth  commonly  prove 
the  most  mortal  enemy  of  the  soul,  and,  whilst  it 
smiles,  and  kisses,  and  speaks  fairly,  doth  fatally 
smite,  as  it  were,  imder  the  fifth  rib. 

By  this  time  I  think  I  hear  my  readers  crying 
out,  Avith  the  disciples,  "Who  then  shall  be  saved  ?" 
Set  out  from  among  our  congregations  all  those  ten 
ranks  of  the  profane  on  the  one  hand,  and  then  be- 
sides take  out  all  these  twelve  classes  of  self-deceiv- 
ing hypocrites  on  the  other  hand,  and  tell  me  whether 
it  be  not  a  remnant  that  shall  be  saved.  How  few 
will  be  the  sheep  that  shall  be  left,  when  all  these 
shall  be  separated  and  set  among  the  goats.  For 
my  part,  of  all  my  numerous  hearers,  I  have  no 
hope  to  see  any  of  them  in  heaven  that  are  to  be 
found  among  these  two-and-twenty  classes  that  are 
here  mentioned,  except  by  sound  conversion  they 
are  brought  into  another  condition. 


THE  MARKS  Or  THE  UNCONVERTED.  95 

And  now,  conscience,  do  thy  office :  speak  out, 
and  speak  home  to  him  that  heareth  or  readeth 
these  lines.  If  thou  find  any  of  these  marks  upon 
him,  thou  mxist  pronounce  him  utterly  unclean. 
Take  not  a  lie  into  thy  mouth  ;  speak  not  peace  to 
him  to  whom  God  speaks  no  peace ;  let  not  sense 
bribe  thee,  or  self-love  or  carnal  prejudice  blind  thee. 
I  summon  thee  from  the  court  of  heaven  to  come 
and  give  evidence.  As  thou  -wilt  answer  it  at  thy 
peril,  give  in  a  true  report  of  the  state  and  case  of 
him  that  readeth  this  book.  Conscience,  wilt  thou 
altogether  hold  thy  peace  at  such  a  time  as  this  ? 
I  adjure  thee  by  the  living  God,  that  thou  tell  the 
truth.  Is  the  man  converted,  or  is  he  not  ?  Doth 
he  allow  himself  in  any  way  of  wickedness,  or  doth 
he  not  ?  Doth  he  truly  love,  and  please,  and  prize, 
and  delight  in  God  above  all  things,  or  not  ?  Come, 
put  it  to  an  issue. 

How  long  shall  this  soul  live  at  uncertainties  ?  O 
conscience,  bring  in  thy  verdict.  Is  this  man  a  new 
man,  or  is  he  not  ?  How  dost  thou  find  it  ?  Hath 
there  passed  a  thorough  and  mighty  change  upon 
him,  or  not  ?  When  was  the  time,  where  was  the 
place,  or  what  were  the  means  by  which  this 
thorough  change  of  the  new  birth  was  wrought  in 
his  soul  ?  Speak,  conscience ;  or  if  thou  canst  not 
tell  the  time  and  place,  canst  thou  show  Scripture 
evidence  that  the  work  is  done  ?  Hath  the  man 
ever  been  taken  off  from  his  false  foundation,  from 


96  ALLRmE'S  ALARM. 

the  false  hopes  and  false  peace  wherein  once  he 
trusted?  Hath  he  been  deeply  convinced  of  sin, 
and  of  his  lost  or  undone  condition,  and  brought  out 
of  himself,  and  off  from  his  sins,  to  give  up  himself 
entirely  to  Jesus  Christ ;  or  dost  thou  not  find  him 
to  this  day  under  the  power  of  ignorance,  or  in  the 
mire  of  worldliness?  Hast  thou  not  found  upon 
Mm  the  gains  of  unrighteousness?  Dost  thou  not 
find  him  a  stranger  to  prayer,  a  neglecter  of  the 
word,  a  lover  of  this  present  world  ?  Dost  thou  not 
sometimes  catch  him  in  a  lie  ?  Dost  thou  not  find 
his  heart  fermented  with  malice,  or  burning  with 
lust,  or  going  after  his  covetousness  ?  Speak  plain- 
ly to  all  the  forementioned  particulars.  Canst  thou 
acquit  this  man,  this  woman,  from  being  in  any  of 
the  two-and-twenty  classes  here  described  ?  If  he  be 
found  with  any  of  them,  set  him  aside  ;  his  portion 
is  not  with  the  saints.  He  must  be  converted  and 
made  a  new  creature,  or  he  cannot  enter  the  king- 
dom of  God. 

Beloved,  be  not  your  own  betrayers ;  do  not  de- 
ceive your  own  hearts,  nor  set  your  hands  to  your 
own  ruin  by  a  wilful  blinding  of  yourselves.  Set 
up  a  tribunal  in  your  own  breasts  :  bring  the  word 
and  conscience  together.  "  To  the  law  and  to  the 
testunony."  Hear  what  the  word  concludes  of  your 
state.  0  follow  the  search  till  you  find  how  the 
case  stands.  Mistake  here,  and  you  perish.  And, 
such  is  the  treachery  of  the  heart,  the  subtlety  of 


THE  MARKS  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.        97 

the  tempter,  and  the  deceitfulness  of  sin,  all  conspir- 
ing to  flatter  and  deceive  the  poor  soul ;  and  withal 
so  common  and  easy  it  is  to  mistake,  that  it  is  a 
thousand  to  one  but  you  will  be  deceived,  unless 
you  be  very  careful,  and  thorough,  and  impartial  in 
the  inquiry  into  your  spiritual  condition.  0  there- 
fore be  diligent  in  your  work ;  go  to  the  bottom  ; 
search  with  candles  ;  weigh  yourself  in  the  balance ; 
come  to  the  standard  of  the  sanctuary ;  bring  your 
coin  to  the  touchstone,  Satan  is  master  of  deceit ; 
he  can  draw  to  the  life  ;  he  is  perfect  in  the  trade ; 
there  is  nothing  but  he  can  imitate.  You  cannot 
wish  for  any  grace,  but  he  can  fit  you  with  a  coun- 
terfeit. Be  jealous ;  trust  not  even  your  own  heart. 
Go  to  God  to  search  you  and  try  j'ou,  to  examine 
you  and  prove  your  reins.  If  other  helps  suffice 
not  to  bring  all  to  an  issue,  but  you  are  still  at  a 
loss,  open  your  case  ingenuously  to  some  godly  and 
faithful  minister,  or  Christian  friend.  Rest  not  till 
you  have  put  the  business  of  your  eternal  welfare 
out  of  doubt.  "  0  Searcher  of  hearts,  put  thou  this 
soul  upon,  and  help  him  in  his  search." 


AUtiiic%  AUm. 


98  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE   MISERIES    OF    THE    UNCONVERTED. 

So  unspeakably  dreadful  is  the  case  of  every  un- 
converted soul,  that  I  have  sometimes  thought  if  I 
could  but  convince  men  that  they  are  yet  unregene- 
rate,  the  work  were  more  than  half  done. 

But  I  find  by  sad  experience  that  such  a  spirit  of 
sloth  and  slumber  possesses  the  unsanctified,  that, 
though  they  be  convinced  that  they  are  yet  uncon- 
verted, they  ofttimes  carelessly  sit  still ;  and  through 
the  love  of  sensual  pleasure,  or  the  hurry  of  worldly 
business,  or  the  noise  and  clamor  of  earthly  cares 
and  lusts  and  affections,  the  voice  of  conscience  is 
drowned,  and  men  go  no  farther  than  some  cold 
wishes  and  general  purposes  of  repenting  and 
amending. 

It  is  therefore  of  high  necessity  that  I  not  only 
convince  men  that  they  are  unconverted,  but  that  I 
also  endeavor  to  bring  them  to  a  sense  of  the  fearful 
misery  of  this  state. 

But  here  I  find  myself  aground  at  first  setting  off. 
What  tongiie  can  tell  the  heirs  of  hell  sufficiently  of 
their  misery,  unless  it  were  Dives  in  that  flame  ? 
Luke  16  :  24.  Where  is  the  ready  writer  whose 
pen  can  depict  their  misery  who  are  without  God  in 
the  world  ?  This  cannot  fully  be  done,  unless  we 
know  the  infinite  ocean  of  bliss  which  is  in  perfec- 


THE  MISERIES  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.  8& 

tion  in  God,  and  from  which  a  state  of  sin  doth  ex- 
clude men.  "  Who  knoweth,"  saith  Moses,  "  the 
power  of  thine  anger  ?"  And  how  shall  I  tell  men 
that  which  I  do, not  know  ?  Yet  so  much  we  know, 
as  one  would  think  would  shake  the  heart  of  that 
man  that  had  tlie  least  degree  of  spiritual  hfe  and 
sense. 

But  this  is  yet  the  more  perplexing  difficulty, 
that  I  am  to  speak  to  them  that  are  without  spiritual 
sense.  Alas,  this  is  not  the  least  part  of  man's 
misery,  that  he  is  dead,  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins. 

Could  I  bring  paradise  into  view,  or  represent  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  to  as  much  advantage  as  the 
tempter  did  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  all  the 
glory  thereof,  to  our  Saviour ;  or  could  I  imcover  the 
face  of  the  deep  and  devouring  gulf  of  Tophet  in  all 
its  terrors,  and  open  the  gates  of  the  infernal  fur- 
nace ;  alas,  he  hath  no  eyes  to  see  it.  Could  I 
paint  the  beauties  of  hohness  or  the  glory  of  the 
Gospel ;  or  could  I  expose  to  view  the  more  than 
diabolical  deformity  and  ugliness  of  sin :  he  can  no 
more  judge  of  the  loveliness  and  beauty  of  the  one, 
and  the  filthiness  and  hatefnlness  of  the  other,  than 
a  blind  man  of  colors.  He  is  alienated  from  the  life 
of  God,  through  the  ignorance  that  is  in  him  be- 
cause of  the  blindness  of  his  heart.  He  neither 
doth  nor  can  know  the  things  of  God,  because  they 
are  spiritually  discerned.  His  eyes  cannot  be  sav- 
ingly opened  but  by  converting  grace.     He  is  a 


100  ALLEINE'S  ALARM 

child  of  darkness,  and  walks  in  darkness.  Yea,  the 
light  in  him  is  darkness. 

Shall  I  ring  his  knell,  or  read  his  sentence,  or 
sound  in  his  ear  the  terrible  trump  of  God's  judg- 
ments, that  one  would  think  should  make  both  his 
ears  to  tingle,  and  strike  him  into  Belshazzar's  fit, 
even  to  change  his  countenance,  and  to  loose  his 
joints,  and  make  his  knees  smite  one  against  another? 
Alas,  he  perceives  me  not ;  he  hath  no  ears  to 
hear.  Or  shall  I  call  up  the  daughters  of  music, 
and  sing  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb  ?  Yet  he 
will  not  be  stirred.  Shall  I  allure  him  with  the 
joyful  sound,  and  lovely  song,  and  glad  tidings  of 
the  Gospel ;  with  the  most  sweet  and  inviting  calls, 
comforts,  and  cordials  of  the  divine  promises  so  ex- 
ceedingly great  and  precious  ?  It  will  not  affect 
him  savingly,  unless  I  could  find  him  ears  as  well  as 
tell  him  the  news. 

What  then  shall  I  do  ?  Shall  I  uncover  to  him 
the  lake  that  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone ;  or 
shall  I  open  the  box  of  spikenard,  very  precious, 
that  filleth  the  whole  house  of  the  universe  with  its 
perfume,  and  hope  that  the  savor  of  Christ's  oint- 
ments and  the  smell  of  his  garments  will  attract 
him  ?  Alas,  dead  sinners  are  like  the  dumb  idols  : 
they  have  mouths,  but  they  speak  not ;  eyes  have 
they,  but  they  see  not ;  they  have  ears,  but  they 
hear  not ;  noses  have  they,  but  they  smell  not ;  they 
have  hands,  but  they  handle  not ;  feet  have  they. 


THE  MISERIES  OP  THE  UNCONVERTED.  101 

but  they  walk  not ;  neither  speak  they  through  their 
throat.  They  are  destitute  of  spiritual  sense  and 
motion. 

But  let  me  try  the  sense  that  doth  last  leave  us, 
and  draw  the  sword  of  the  word;  yet,  though  I 
choose  mine  arrows  out  of  God's  quiver,  and  direct 
them  to  the  heart,  nevertheless  he  feeleth  it  not ; 
for  how  should  he,  being  past  feeling  ?  So  that, 
though  "the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him,"  and 
the  mountainous  weight  of  so  many  thousand  sins, 
yet  he  goes  up  and  down  as  light  as  if  nothing  ailed 
him.  In  a  word,  he  carries  a  dead  soul  in  a  living 
body,  and  his  flesh  is  but  the  walking  coffin  of  a 
corrupt  mind  that  is  twice  dead.     Jude  12. 

Which  way  then  shall  I  come  at  the  miserable 
objects  that  I  have  to  deal  with  ?  Who  shall  make 
the  heart  of  stone  relent,  or  the  lifeless  carcass  to 
feel  and  move?  That  God  who  is  able  of  "  stones 
to  raise  up  children  unto  Abraham ;"  "  that  raiseth 
the  dead,"  "  and  melteth  the  mountains,"  and 
"striketh  water  out  of  the  flint;"  that  loves  to 
work  like  himself,  beyond  the  hopes  and  belief  of 
man  ;  that  peopleth  his  church  with  dry  bones  ;  he 
is  able  to  do  this.  Therefore  "  I  bow  my  knee  to 
the  most  high  God  ;"  and  as  our  Saviour  prayed  at 
the  sepulchre  of  Lazarus,  and  the  Shunamite  ran  to 
the  man  of  God  for  her  dead  child,  so  doth  your 
mourning  minister  carry  you  in  the  arms  of  prayer 
to  that  God  in  whom  your  help  is  found. 


1018  ALLEINE'S  ALARM, 

"  0  thou  all-powerful  Jehovah,  who  workest,  and 
none  can  hinder  thee !  who  hast  the  keys  of  death 
and  hell !  pity  thou  the  dead  souls  that  lie  here  en- 
tombed, and  roll  away  the  grave-stone,  and  say  as 
to  the  dead  body  of  Lazarus,  Come  forth.  Lighten 
thou  this  darkness,  0  inaccessible  Light,  and  let  the 
day-spring  from  on  high  visit  the  dark  regions  of 
the  dead,  to  whom  I  speak ;  for  thou  canst  open  the 
eye  that  death  itself  hath  closed ;  thou  that  formedst 
the  ear,  canst  restore  the  hearing  :  say  thou  to  these 
ears,  Ephphatha,  and  they  shall  be  opened.  Give 
thou  eyes  to  see  thine  excellencies,  a  taste  that  may 
relish  thy  sweetness,  a  scent  that  may  savor  thy 
ointment,  a  feeling  that  may  discern  the  privilege 
of  thy  favor,  the  burden  of  thy  wrath,  the  intolera- 
ble weight  of  unpardoned  sin  ;  and  give  thy  servant 
order  to  prophesy  to  dry  bones,  and  let  the  effects 
of  this  prophecy  be  as  of  thy  prophet  when  he  pro- 
phesied the  valley  of  dry  bones  into  a  living  army 
exceeding  great."     Ezek.  37  :  1-10. 

But  I  must  proceed,  as  I  am  able,  to  unfold  that 
misery  which,  I  confess,  no  tongue  can  unfold,  no 
heart  can  sufficiently  comprehend. 

Know  therefore,  that,  while  thou  art  unconverted, 
1.   The  infinite  God  is  engaged  against  thee.     It 
is  no  small  part  of  thy  misery  that  thou  art  "  with- 
out God."     How  doth  Micah  run  crying  after  the 
Danites,  "  Ye  have  taken  away  my  gods,  and  what 


THE  MISERIES  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.  103 

have  I  more  ?"  0  what  a  mourning  then  must  thou 
hft  up,  that  art  without  God,  that  canst  lay  no 
claim  to  him  without  daring  usurpation-!  How 
piercing  a  moan  is  that  of  Saul  in  his  last  extremity, 
"  The  Philistines  are  upon  me,  and  God  is  departed 
from  me !"  Sinners,  but  what  will  you  do  in  the 
day  of  your  visitation  ?  Whither  will  you  flee  for 
help  ?  Where  will  you  leave  your  glory  ?  What 
will  you  do  when  the  Philistines  are  upon  you ; 
when  the  world  shall  take  its  eternal  leave  of  you  ; 
when  you  must  bid  your  friends,  houses,  and  lands, 
farewell  for  evermore  ?  What  then,  I  say,  will  you 
do,  that  have  not  God  to  go  to  ?  WilUyou  call  on 
him  ?  Will  you  cry  to  him  for  help  ?  Alas,  he 
will  not  own  you.  He  will  not  take  any  notice  of 
you ;  but  will  send  you  away  with,  "  I  never  knew 
you.     Depart  from  me,  ye  that  work  iniquity." 

They  that  know  what  it  is  to  have  a  God  to  go 
to,  a  God  to  live  upon — they  know  a  little  what  a 
fearful  misery  it  is  to  be  without  God.  This  made 
a  holy  man  cry  out,  "  Let  me  have  God  or  nothing : 
let  me  know  him  and  his  will,  and  what  will  please 
him,  and  how  I  may  come  to  enjoy  him,  or  would  I 
never  had  an  understanding  to  know  any  thing !" 

But  thou  art  not  only  without  God,  but  God  is 
against  thee.  O  if  God  would  but  stand  neuter, 
though  he  did  not  own  nor  help  the  poor  sinner,  his 
case  were  not  so  deeply  miserable ;  though  God 
should  give  up  the  poor  creature  to  the  will  of  his 


104  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

enemies,  to  do  their  worst  with  him ;  though  he 
should  deliver  him  over  to  the  tormentors,  that 
devils  sluould  tear  and  torture  him  to  their  utmost 
power  and  skill,  yet  this  were  not  half  so  fearful. 
But  God  will  set  himself  against  the  sinner ;  and, 
believe  it,  "it  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  living  God."  There  is  no  friend  like  him,  no 
enemy  like  him.  As  much  as  heaven  is  above  the 
earth,  omnipotence  above  impotence,  so  much  more 
terrible  is  it  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God, 
than  into  the  paws  of  bears  and  lions,  yea,  furies  or 
devils.  God  himself  will  be  thy  tormentor ;  thy 
destruction  shall  come  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord. 

"  If  God  be  against  thee,  who  shall  be  for  thee? 
If  one  man  sin  against  another,  the  judge  shall 
judge  him :  but  if  a  man  sin  against  the  Lord,  who 
shall  entreat  for  him  ?"  "  Thou,  even  thou,  art  to 
be  feared  ;  and  who  shall  stand  in  thy  sight  when 
thou  art  angry  ?"  Who  or  what  shall  deliver  you 
out  of  his  hands?  Can  mammon?  "  Riches  profit 
not  in  the  day  of  wrath."  Can  kings  or  warriors  ? 
No ;  "  they  shall  cry  to  the  mountains  and  rocks  to 
fall  on  them,  and  hide  them  from  the  face  of  Him 
th^t  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of 
the  Lamb ;  for  the  great  day  of  his  wrath  is  come, 
and  who  shall  be  able  to  stand?" 

Sinner,  I  think  this  should  go  like  a  dagger  to 
thy  heart,  to  know  that  God  is  thine  enemy.  0 
whither  wilt  thou  go ;  where  wilt  thou  shelter  thee  ? 


THE  MISERIES  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.  105 

There  is  no  hope  for  thee,  unless  thou  lay  down  thy 
weapons  and  sue  out  thy  pardon,  and  get  Christ  to 
stand  thy  friend  and  make  thy  peace.  If  it  were 
not  for  this,  thou  mightest  go  into  some  howling 
wilderness,  and  there  pine  in  sorrow,  and  run  mad 
for  anguish  of  heart  and  honible  despair.  But  in 
Christ  there  is  a  possibility  of  mercy  for  thee,  yea, 
a  proiSer  of  mercy  to  thee,  that  thou  maycst  have 
God  more  for  thee  than  he  is  now  against  thee. 
But  if  thou  wilt  not  forsake  thy  sins,  nor  turn 
thoroughly  and  to  some  purpose  to  God,  by  a  sound, 
conversion,  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  thee,  and 
he  proclaimeih  himself  to  be  against  thee,  as  in  the 
prophet :  "  Therefore,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God, 
Behold  I,  even  I,  am  against  thee !" 

(1.)  His  face  is  against  thee.  "  The  face  of  the 
Lord  is  against  them  that  do  evil,  to  cut  off  the  re- 
membrance of  them."  Woe  unto  them  whom  God 
shall  set  his  face  against.  When  he  did  but  look  on 
the  host  of  the  Egyptians,  how  terrible  was  the  con- 
sequence !  "  I  will  set  my  face  against  that  man, 
and  will  make  him  a  sign  and  a  proverb,  and  will 
cut  him  off  from  the  midst  of  my  people ;  and  ye 
shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord." 

(2.)  His  lieart  is  against  thee.  He  hateth  all  the 
workers  of  iniquity.  Man,  doth  not  thy  heart  trem- 
ble to  think  of  thy  being  an  object  of  God's  hatred  ? 
"  Though  Moses  and  Samuel  stood  before  me,  yet 
my  mind  could  not  be  towards  this  people :  cast 


lOd  ALLEINE'S  ALAML 

them  out  of  my  sight."  "  My  soul  loathed  them, 
and  their  souls  also  abhorred  me." 

(3.)  His  hand  is  against  thee.  All  his  attributes 
are  against  thee. 

His  justice  is  like  a  flaming  sword  unsheathed 
against  thee :  "  If  I  whet  my  glittering  sword,  and 
my  hand  take  hold  on  judgment,  I  will  render  ven- 
geance to  mine  adversaries,  and  will  reward  them 
that  hate  me :  I  will  make  mine  arrows  drunk  with 
blood."  So  exact  is  justice,  that  it  will  by  no 
means  clear  the  guilty.  God  will  not  discharge 
thee,  he  will  not  hold  thee  guiltless,  but  will  require 
the  whole  debt  in  person  of  thee,  unless  thou  canst 
make  a  Scripture  claim  to  Christ  and  his  satisfac- 
tion. When  the  enlightened  sinner  looks  on  justice, 
and  sees  the  balance  in  which  he  must  be  weighed 
and  the  sword  by  which  he  must  be  executed,  he 
feels  an  earthquake  in  his  breast ;  but  Satan  keeps 
this  out  of  sight,  and  persuades  the  soul,  while  he 
can,  that  the  Lord  is  all  rftade  up  of  mercy,  and  so 
lulls  it  asleep  in  sin.  Divine  justice  is  exact ;  it 
must  have  satisfaction  to  the  utmost  farthing :  it 
denounceth  "indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and 
anguish  to  every  soul  that  doeth  evil."  It  "curseth 
every  one  that  continueth  not  in  all  things  written 
in  the  law  to  do  them."  The  justice  of  God  to  the 
unpardoned  sinner  that  hath  a  sense  of  his  guilt,  is 
more  terrible  than  the  sight  of  the  creditor  to  the 
bankrupt  debtor,   of  the  judge  and  bench  to  the 


THE  MISERIES  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.  107 

robber,  or  of  the  irons  and  gibbet  to  the  guilty 
murderer.  When  justice  sits  upon  life  and  death, 
what  dreadful  work  doth  it  make  with  the  wretched 
sinner !  "  Bind  him  hand  and  foot ;  cast  him  into 
outer  darkness ;  there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnash- 
ing of  teeth."  "  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into 
everlasting  fire."  This  is  the  terrible  sentence  that 
justice  pronounceth.  Sinner,  by  this  severe  justice 
must  thou  be  tried ;  and  as  God  liveth,  this  killing 
sentence  must  thou  hear,  unless  thou  repent  and  be 
converted. 

The  holiness  of  God  is  against  thee.  He  is  not 
only  angry  with  thee — so  he  may  be  with  his 
children — but  he  hath  a  fixed,  habitual  displeasure 
against  thee.  God's  nature  is  infinitely  contrary  to 
sin,  and  so  he  cannot  delight  in  a  sinner  out  of 
Christ. 

0  what  misery  is  this,  to  be  out  of  the  favor,  yea, 
under  the  hatred  of  God;  that  God,  who  can  as 
easily  lay  aside  his  nature  and  cease  to  be  God,  as 
not  be  contrary  to  thee  and  detest  thee,  except  thou 
be  changed  and  renewed.  O  sinner,  how  darest 
thou  think  of  the  bright  and  radiant  sun  of  purity, 
or  the  beauties,  the  glory  of  holiness  in  God  ?  "  The 
stars  are  not  pure  in  his  sight."  "  He  humbles 
himself  to  behold  things  that  are  done  in  heaven." 
O  those  all-searching  eyes  of  his !  what  do  they  spy 
in  thee ;  and  hast  thou  no  interest  in  Christ  neither, 
that  he  should  plead  for  thee  ?     I  think  he  should 


108  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

hear  thee  ciying  out,  astonished,  with  the  Bethshe- 
mites,  "  Who  is  able  to  stand  before  this  holy  Lord 
God?" 

The  power  of  God  is  against  thee.  The  glory  of 
God's  power  is  displayed  in  the  Avonderful  confusion 
and  destruction  of  them  that  obey  not  the  Gospel. 
He  will  make  his  power  known  in  them,  how  mightily 
he  can  torment  them.  For  this  end  he  raiseth  them 
up,  "that  he  might  make  his  power  known."  0 
man,  art  thou  able  to  contend  with  thy  Maker  ? 

Sinner,  the  power  of  God's  anger  is  against  thee, 
and  power  and  anger  together  make  fearful  work ; 
it  were  better  thou,  hadst  all  the  world  in  arms 
against  thee  than  to  have  the  power  of  God  against 
thee.  There  is  no  escaping  his  hands,  no  breaking 
his  prison.  "  The  thunder  of  his  power,  who  can 
understand?"  Unhappy  man  that  shall  understand 
it  by  feeling  it !  "  If  he  will  contend  with  him,  he 
cannot  answer  him  one  of  a  thousand.  He  is  wise 
in  heart  and  mighty  in  strength :  who  hath  hardened 
himself  against  him,  and  prospered  ?  which  removeth 
the  mountains,  arid  they  know  it  hot ;  which  over- 
turaeth  them  in  his  anger ;  which  shaketh  the  earth 
out  of  her  place,  and  the  pilliars  thereof  tremble  ; 
which  commandeth  the  sun,  and  it  riseth  not ;  and 
sealeth  up  the  stars  !  Behold,  he  taketh  away,  who 
can  hinder  him  ?  Who  ^vill  say  unto  him,  What 
doest  thou  ?  If  God  will  not  withdraw  his  anger, 
the  proud  helpers  do  stoop  under  him."     Job  9 : 


THE  MISERIES  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.  109 

3-6, 12,  13.  And  art  thou  a  fit  match  for  such  an 
antagonist  ?  "0  consider  this,  ye  that  forget  God, 
lest  he  tear  you  in  pieces,  and  there  be  none  to  de- 
liver." Submit  to  mercy ;  let  not  dust  and  stubble 
stand  out  against  the  Almighty ;  set  not  briers  and 
thorns  against  him  in  battle,  lest  he 'go  through 
them,  and  consume  them  together ;  but  lay  hold  on 
his  strength  that  you  may  "  make  peace  with  him." 
"Woe  to  him  that  striveth  with  his  Maker  !" 

The  wisdom  of  God  is  set  to  ruin  thee.  He  hath 
ordained  his  arrows,  and  prepared  instruments  of 
death,  and  made  all  things  ready.  His  counsels  are 
against  thee,  to  contrive  thy  destruction.  He  sees 
how  thou  wilt  come  down  mightily  in  a  moment; 
how  thou  wilt  gnash  thy  teeth  for  anguish  of  heart, 
when  thou  seest  thou  art  fallen  irremediably  into 
the  pit  of  destruction. 

The  truth  of  God  is  sworn  against  thee.  If  he 
be  true  and  faithful,  thou  must  perish  if  thou  goest 
on.  Unless  he  be  false  to  his  word,  thou  must  die, 
except  thou  repent.  If  we  believe  not,  yet  he 
abideth  faithful ;  he  cannot  deny  himself ;  that  is, 
he  is  faithful  to  his  threatenings  as  well  as  to  his 
promises,  and  will  show  his  faithfulness  in  our  con- 
fusion, if  we  believe  not.  God  hath  told  thee  as 
plain  as  it  can  be  spoken,  that  "  if  he  wash  thee  not, 
thou  hast  no  part  in  him  ;"  that  "if  thou  livest  after 
the  flesh,  thou  shalt  die ;"  that  "  except  thou  be 
converted,  thou  shalt  in  no  wise  enter  into  the  king- 


Ufl  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

dom  of  heaven."  Beloved,  as  the  immutable  faith- 
fulness of  God  in  his  promise  and  oath  affords 
believers  strong  consolation,  so  they  are  to  unbe- 
lievers for  strong  consternation  and  confusion. 

0  sinner,  tell  me  what  dost  thou  think  of  all  the 
threatenings  of  God's  word  that  stand  upon  record 
against  thee?  Dost  thou  believe  they  are  truth  or 
not  ?  If  not,  thou  art  a  wretched  infidel.  But,  if 
thou  dost  believe  them,  0  heart  of  adamant  that 
thou  hast,  that  thou  canst  walk  up  and  down  in 
quiet,  when  the  truth  and  faithfulness  of  God  are 
engaged  to  destroy  thee  !  The  whole  book  of  God 
doth  testify  against  thee  while  thou  remainest  un- 
sanctified  :  it  condemns  thee  in  every  leaf,  and  is  to 
thee  like  Ezekiel's  roll,  written  within  and  without 
with  lamentation,  and  mourning,  and  woe.  And  all 
this  shall  surely  come  upon  thee,  except  thou  repent. 
"  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  one  jot  or 
tittle  of  this  word  shall  never  pass  away." 

Now,  put  all  this  together,  and  tell  me  if  the  case 
of  the  unconverted  be  not  deplorably  miserable.  As 
we  read  of  some  persons  that  had  bound  themselves 
by  an  oath  and  a  curse  to  kill  Paul ;  so  thou  must 
know,  O  sinner,  to  thy  terror,  that  all  the  attributes 
of  the  infinite  God  are  bound  by  an  oath  to  punish 
thee.  O  man,  what  wilt  thou  do ;  whither  wilt 
thou  flee  ?  If  God's  omniscience  can  find  thee, 
thou  shalt  not  escape.  If  the  true  and  faithful  God 
will  regard  his  oath,  perish  thou  must,  except  thou 


THE  MISERIES  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.  IH 

believe  and  repent.  If  the  Almighty  hath  power 
to  torment  thee,  thou  must  be  perfectly  miserable 
in  soul  and  body  to  all  eternity,  unless  it  be  pre- 
vented by  speedy  conversion. 

2.  The  whole  creation  of  God  is  against  thee. 
"  The  whole  creation,"  saith  Paul,  "  groaneth  and 
travaileth  in  pain."  But  what  is  it  that  the  creation 
groaneth  under  ?  The  fearful  abuse  it  is  subject  to 
in  serving  the  lusts  of  unsanctified  men.  And  what 
is  it  that  the  creation  groaneth  for  ?  For  freedom 
and  liberty  from  this  abuse  ;  for  the  "  creature  is 
not  willingly  made  subject  to  this  bondage."  Rom. 
8  :  20,  21.  If  the  irrational  and  inanimate  creatures 
had  speech  and  reason,  they  would  cry  out  under 
it,  as  a  bondage  insufferable,  to  be  abused  by  the 
ungodly,  contrary  to  their  natures  and  the  ends  that 
the  great  Creator  made  them  for.  It  is  a  saying  of 
an  eminent  divine,  "  The  liquor  that  the  dnmkard 
drinketh,  if  it  had  reason,  like  a  man,  to  know  how 
shamefully  it  is  abused,  would  groan  in  the  barrel 
against  him,  it  would  groan  in  the  cup  against  him, 
groan  in  his  throat,  in  his  stomach  against  him ;  it 
would  fly  in  his  face,  if  it  could  speak.  And  if  God 
should  open  the  mouths  of  his  creatures,  as  he  did 
the  mouth  of  Balaam's  ass,  the  proud  man's  gar- 
ment on  his  back  would  groan  against  him.  There 
is  never  a  creature,  if  it  had  reason  to  know  how  it 
is  abused  till  a  man  be  converted,  but  would  groan 
against  him :  the  land  would  groan  to  bear  him ;  the 


112  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

air  would  groan  to  give  him  breath ;  their  houses 
would  groan  to  lodge  them ;  their  beds  would  groan 
to  ease  them,  their  food  to  nourish  them,  their 
clothes  to  cover  them,  and  the  creature  would  groan 
to  give  them  any  help  and  comfort,  so  long  as  they 
live  in  sin  against  God." 

I  think  this  should  be  a  terror  to  an  unconverted 
soul,  to  think  he  is  a  burden  to  the  creation :  "  Cut 
it  down ;  why  cumbereth  it  the  ground  ?"  If  inani- 
mate creatures  could  but  speak,  thy  food  would  say, 
Lord,  must  I  nourish  such  a  wretch  as  this,  and 
yield  forth  my  strength  for  him  to  dishonor  thee  ? 
The  very  air  would  say,  Lord,  must  I  give  this  man 
breath  to  speak  against  Heaven,  and  scorn  thy  peo- 
ple, and  vent  his  pride  and  wrath,  and  filthy  com- 
munication, and  utter  oaths  and  blasphemy  against 
thee  ?  His  poor  beast  would  say.  Lord,  must  I 
carry  him  upon  his  wicked  design  ?  A  wicked  man ! 
the  earth  groans  under  him,  and  hell  groans  for  him, 
till  de^h  satisfies  both.  While  the  Lord  of  hosts 
is  aofainst  thee,  be  sure  the  host  of  the  Lord  is 
against  thee,  and  all  the  creatures,  as  it  were,  up  in 
arms,  till,  upon  a  man's  conversion,  the  controversy 
being  settled  between  God  and  him.  he  makes  a 
covenant  of  peace  with  the  creature  for  him. 

3.  The  roaring  lion,  Satan,  hath  his  full  power 
upon  thee.  Thou  art  led  captive  by  him  at  his  will. 
This  is  the  spirit  that  worketh  in  the  children  of  dis- 
obedience.    He  is  the  ruler  of  the  darkness  of  this 


THE  MISERIES  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.  113 

■world,  that  is,  of  ignorant  sinners  who  live  in  dark- 
ness. You  pity  the  poor  Indians  that  worship  the 
devil  for  their  god,  but  little  think  it  is  your  own 
case.  It  is  the  common  misery  of  all  the  unsancti- 
fied,  that  the  devil  is  their  god.  Not  that  they  in- 
tend to  do  him  homage  :  they  will  be  ready  to  defy 
him,  and  him  that  should  say  so  of  them ;  but  all 
this  while  they  serve  him,  and  live  under  his  govern- 
ment. His  servants  ye  are  to  whom  ye  obey. 
Rom.  6:16.  0  how  many,  then,  will  be  foxmd  the 
real  servants  of  the  devil,  that  take  themselves  for 
no  other  than  the  children  of  God !  He  can  no 
sooner  offer  a  sinful  delight  or  opportunity  for 
your  unlawful  advantage  than  you  embrace  it. 
If  he  suggest  a  he,  or  prompt  you  to  revenge, 
you  readily  obey.  If  he  forbid  you  to  read  or 
pray,  you  hearken  to  him,  and  therefore  his  ser- 
vants you  are.  Indeed,  he  stands  behind  the  curtain, 
he  acts  in  the  dark,  and  sinners  see  not  who  setteth 
them  at  work,  but  all  the  while  he  leads  them. 
Doubtless  the  liar  intends  not  a  service  to  Satan, 
but  his  own  advantage ;  yet  it  is  he  that  stands  im- 
observed  and  putteth  the  thing  into  his  heart.  Un- 
doubtedly Judas,  when  he  sold  his  Master  for  money, 
and  the  Chaldeans  and  Sabeans,  when  they  plun- 
dered Job,  intended  not  to  do  the  devil  a  pleasure, 
but  to  satisfy  their  own  covetous  thirst ;  yet  it  was 
he  that  actuated  them  in  their  wickedness.  Men 
may  be  very  slaves  and  common  drudges  for  the 

Alleiue'i  Alarm.  O 


itl  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

devil,  and  not  know  it :  nay,  tliey  may  please  them- 
selves in  thoughts  of  liberty. 

Art  thou  yet  in  ignorance,  and  not  turned  from 
darkness  unto  light  ?  I  fear  thou  art  under  the 
power  of  Siitan.  Dost  thou  Uve  in  the  wilful  prac- 
tice of  any  known  sin  ?  Know  that  thou  art  of  the 
devil.  Dost  thou  live  in  strife,  or  envy,  or  malice  ? 
Verily  he  is  thy  father.  0  dreadful  case  !  However 
Satan  may  provide  his  slaves  with  divers  pleasures, 
yet  it  is  but  to  draw  them  into  endless  perdition. 
The  serpent  comes  with  the  fruit  in  his  mouth,  but, 
with  Eve,  thou  seest  not  the  deadly  sting.  He  that 
is  now  thy  tempter,  will  one  day  be  thy  tormentor. 
O  that  I  could  but  give  thee  to  see  how  bad  a  master 
thou  servest,  how  merciless  a  tyrant  thou  gratifiest ; 
all  Avhose  pleasure  is  to  set  thee  on  to  make  thy 
perdition  and  damnation  sure,  and  to  heat  the  fur- 
nace hotter  and  hotter  in  w  hich  thou  must  burn  for 
millions  and  millions  of  ages  ! 

4.  The  guilt  of  all  thy  sins  lies  like  a  mountain 
upon  thee.  Poor  soul,  thou  feelest  it  not ;  but  this 
is  that  which  seals  thy  misery.  While  unconverted, 
none  of  thy  sins  are  blotted  out,  they  are  all  upon 
record  against  thee.  Rea^eneration  and  remission 
are  never  separated  ;  the  unsanctified  are  unjustified 
and  unpardoned.  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  be  in  debt, 
but  above  all,  in  God's  debt ;  for  there  is  no  arrest 
so  formidable  as  his,  no  prison  so  dreary  as  his. 
Look  upon  an   enlightened   sinner  who  feels   the 


THE  MISERIES  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.  115 

weight  of  his  own  guilt :  0  how  frightful  are  his 
looks,  how  fearful  are  his  complaints !  his  comforts 
are  turned  into  wormwood,  and  his  moisture  into 
drought,  and  his  sleep  is  departed  from  his  eyes. 
He  is  a  terror  to  himself  and  all  that  are  about  him, 
and  is  ready  to  envy  the  very  stones  that  lie  in  the 
street,  because  they  are  senseless  and  feel  not  his 
misery,  and  wisheth  he  had  been  a  dog,  rather  than 
a  man,  because  then  death  had  put  an  end  to  his 
misery ;  whereas  now  it  will  be  but  the  beginning 
of  that  which  will  know  no  ending. 

However  you  may  make  light  of  it  now,  you  will 
one  day  find  the  guilt  of  unpardoned  sin  to  be  a 
heavy  burden.  This  is  a  mill-stone,  that  "whoso- 
ever falleth  upon  it  shall  be  broken ;  but  upon 
whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  shall  grind  him  to  pow- 
der," The  guilt  of  our  sins  caused  the  agony  and 
death  of  the  blessed  Saviour.  And  if  it  did  this  in 
the  green  tree,  what  will  it  do  in  the  dry? 

0  think  of  thy  case  in  time.  Canst  thou  think 
of  that  threat  without  trembling,  "  Ye  shall  die  in 
your  sins  ?"  0,  better  were  it  for  thee  to  die  in  a 
jail,  in  a  ditch,  in  a  dungeon,  than  die  in  thy  sins. 
If  death,  as  it  Avill  take  away  all  thy  comforts,  would 
take  away  thy  sins  too,  it  were  some  mitigation  ;  but 
thy  sins  will  follow  thee  when  thy  friends  leave  thee, 
and  all  worldly  enjoyments  shake  hands  with  thee. 
Thy  sins  will  not  die  with  thee  as  a  prisoner's  other 
debts  will ;  but  they  will  go  to  judgment  with  thee. 


136  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

there  to  be  thy  accusers ;  and  they  "will  go  to  hell 
with  thee,  there  to  be  thy  tormentors.  O  the  work 
that  these  will  make  thee.  0  look  over  thy  debts 
in  time  ;  how  every  one  of  God's  commandments  is 
ready  to  arrest  thee,  and  take  thee  by  the  throat  for 
the  innumerable  bonds  it  hath  upon  thee.  What 
wilt  thou  do,  then,  when  they  shall  all  together 
come  in  against  thee  ?  Hold  open  the  eyes  of  thy 
conscience  to  consider  this,  that  thou  mayest  despair 
of  thyself  and  be  driven  to  Christ,  and  fly  for  refuge 
to  "  lay  hold  on  the  hope  that  is  set  before  thee." 

5.  Thy  raging  lusts  do  miserably  enslave  thee. 
While  unconverted,  thou  art  a  very  servant  to  sin  ; 
it  reigns  over  thee,  and  holds  thee  xmder  its  do- 
minion, till  thou  art  brought  within  the  bonds  of 
God's  covenant.  There  is  not  such  another  tyrant 
as  sin.  0  the  vile  and  fearful  Avork  that  it  doth  en- 
gage its  servants  in ! 

Would  it  not  pierce  thy  heart  to  see  a  company 
of  poor  creatures  drudging  and  toiling  to  carry  to- 
gether fagots  and  fuel  for  their  own  burning  ?  This 
is  the  employment  of  sin's  drudges.  Even  while 
they  bless  themselves  in  their  unrighteous  gains, 
while  they  sing  in  pleasure,  they  are  but  treasuring 
up  vengeance  for  their  eternal  burning ;  they  are 
but  adding  to  the  pile  of  Tophet,  and  flinging  in  oil 
to  make  the  flame  rage  the  fiercer.  Who  would 
serve  such  a  master,  whose  work  is  drudgery,  whose 
wages  are  death  ? 


THE  MISERIES  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.  117 

What  a  woful  spectacle  "was  the  poor  wretch  pos- 
sessed with  the  legion  !  Would  it  not  have  grieved 
thy  heart  to  see  him  among  the  tombs  cutting  and 
wounding  himself  ?  This  is  thy  case  ;  such  is  thy 
work  ;  every  stroke  is  a  thrust  at  thy  heart.  Con- 
science indeed  is  now  asleep ;  but,  when  death  and 
judgment  shall  bring  thee  to  thy  senses,  then  wilt 
thou  feel  the  anguish  in  every  wound.  The  con- 
vinced sinner  is  a  sensible  instance  of  the  miserable 
bondage  of  sin :  conscience  flies  upon  him,  and  tells 
him  the  end  of  these  things ;  and  yet  such  a  slave  he  is 
to  his  lusts,  that  on  he  goes,  though  he  sees  it  will  be 
his  perdition :  when  the  temptation  comes,  lust  breaks 
the  cords  of  all  his  v^jws  and  promises,  and  carries 
him  headlong  to  his  own  destruction. 

6.  The  furnace  of  eternal  vengeance  is  heated  ready 
for  thee.  Hell  and  destruction  open  their  mouths 
upon  thee  ;  they  gape  for  thee ;  they  groan  for  thee, 
Isa.  5:14;  waiting  as  it  were  with  a  greedy  eye,  as 
thou  standest  on  the  brink.  If  the  wrath  of  men 
be  "  as  the  roaring  of  a  lion,"  "  more  heavy  than  the 
sand,"  what  is  the  wrath  of  the  infinite  God  ?  If 
the  burning  furnace  heated  in  Nebuchadnezzar's 
fiery  rage,  when  he  commanded  it  to  be  made  yet 
seven  times  hotter,  was  so  fierce  as  to  bum  up  even 
those  that  drew  near  to  throw  the  three  children  in, 
how  hot  is  that  burning  of  the  Almighty's  fury ! 
Surely  this  is  seventy  times  seven  more  fierce.  What 
thinkest  thou,  0  man,  of  being  a  fagot  in  hell  to  all 


118  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

eternity?  "Can  thine  heart  endure,  or  can  thine 
hands  be  strong  in  the  day  that  I  shall  deal  with 
thee  ?  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  Canst  thou  abide 
the  everlasting  burnings  ?  Canst  thou  dwell  with 
consuming  fire ;  when  thou  shalt  be  as  glowing  iron 
in  hell,  and  thy  whole  body  and  soul  shall  be  as  per- 
fectly possessed  by  God's  burning  vengeance  as  the 
sparkhng  iron  with  fire,  when  heated  in  the  fiercest 
furnace  ?  Some  of  the  choicest  servants  of  God, 
when  under  the  hidingrs  of  his  face,  and  dreadinsr  the 
effects  of  his  displeasure,  have  bewailed  their  condi- 
tion with  bitter  lamentations.  How  then  wilt  thou 
endure  when  God  shall  pour  out  all  his  vials,  and 
set  himself  against  thee,  to  torment  thee ;  when  he 
shall  make  thy  conscience  the  tunnel  by  which  he 
will  be  pouring  his  burning  wrath  into  thy  soul  for 
ever,  and  when  he  shall  fill  all  thy  pores  as  full  of 
torment  as  they  are  now  full  of  sin ;  when  immor- 
tality shall  be  thy  misery,  and  to  die  the  death  of  a 
brute,  and  be  swallowed  in  the  gulf  of  annihilation, 
shall  be  such  a  felicity  as  the  whole  eternity  of 
wishes  and  an  ocean  of  tears  shall  never  purchase? 
Now  thou  canst  put  off  the  evil  day,  and  laugh 
and  be  merry,  and  forget  "the  terror  of  the  Lord." 
But  how  wilt  thou  hold  out,  or  hold  up,  when  God 
will  cast  thee  into  a  "bed  of  torments,"  and  make 
thee  to  "lie  down  in  sorrow;"  when  roarings  and 
blasphemies  shall  be  thy  only  music,  and  the  wine 
of  the  wrath  of  God,  which  is  poured  out  without 


THE  MISERIES  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.  119 

mixture  into  the  cup  of  his  indignation,  shall  be  thy 
only  drink ;  and  when  thou  shalt  draw  in  flames  for 
thy  breath  :  in  a  word,  Avhen  the  smoke  of  thy  tor- 
ment shall  ascend  for  ever  and  ever,  and  thou  shalt 
have  no  rest  day  nor  night,  no  rest  in  thy  conscience, 
no  ease  in  thy  bones ;  but  thou  shalt  be  an  execra- 
tion and  astonishment,  and  a  curse  and  a  reproach, 
for  evermore?  Jer.  42  :  18. 

O  sinner,  stop  here,  and  consider.  If  thou  art  a 
man,  and  not  a  senseless  block,  consider.  Bethink 
thyself  wherb  thou  standest — upon  the  very  brink 
of  destruction.  As  the  Lord  liveth,  and  as  thy  soul 
liveth,  there  is  but  a  step  between  thee  and  this. 
Thou  knowest  not,  when  thou  liest  down,  but  thou 
mayest  be  in  hell  before  morning :  thou  knowest 
not,  wlien  thou  risest,  but  thou  mayest  drop  in  be- 
fore night.  Darest  thou  make  light  of  this  ?  Wilt 
thou  go  on  in  such  a  dreadful  condition,  as  if  nothing 
ailed  thee  ?  If  thou  puttest  it  off,  and  say  est,  "  this 
doth  not  belong  to  thee,"  look  again  over  the  fore- 
going chapter,  and  tell  me  the  truth.  Are  none 
of  those  black  marks  found  upon  thee?  Do  no+ 
blind  thme  eyes ;  do  not  deceive  thyself ;  see  thy 
misery  while  thou  mayest  prevent  it.  Think  what 
it  is  to  be  a  vile  outcast,  a  lost  reprobate, .  a  vessel 
of  wrath,  into  which  the  Lord  will  be  pouring  out 
his  tormenting  fury  while  he  hath  a  being. 

Divine  wrath  is  a  fierce,  devouring,  everlasting, 
imquenchable  fire,  and  this  must  be  thy  portion. 


120  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

•unless  thou  consider  thy  ways,  and  speedily  turn  to 
the  Lord  by  a  sound  conversion.  They  that  have 
had  but  a  foretaste  of  this  woe,  0  Avhat  amazing 
spectacles  they  have  been !  Whose  heart  would  not 
melt  to  have  heard  Spira's  outcries ;  to  have  seen 
Chaloner,  that  monument  of  justice,  worn  to  skin 
and  bone,  blaspheming  the  God  of  heaven,  cursing 
himself,  and  continually  crying  out,  "  0  torture,  tor- 
ture, torture !  0  torture,  torture !"  as  if  the  flames 
of  wrath  had  already  taken  hold  on  him ;  to  have 
heard  Rogers  crying  out,  "I  have  had  a  little  pleas- 
ure, but  now  I  must  have  hell  for  evermore  ;"  wish- 
ing but  for  this  mitigation,  that  God  would  let  him 
lie  burning  for  ever  behind  the  back  of  that  fire,  on 
the  hearth,  and  bringing  in  his  sad  conclusion  still, 
at  the  end  of  whatever  Avas  spoken  to  him  to  afford 
him  some  hope,  "  I  must  to  hell,  I  must  to  hell,  I 
must  to  the  furnace  of  hell,  for  millions  and  millions 
of  ages  ?"  0,  if  the  fears  and  forethoughts  of  the 
wrath  to  come  be  so  terrible,  so  intolerable,  what 
must  be  the  feehng  of  it  ? 

Sinner,  it  is  in  vain  to  flatter  you :  this  would  be  but 
to  draw  you  into  the  unquenchable  fire.  Know  ye 
from  the  living  God,  that  here  you  must  lie ;  with  these 
burnings  you  must  dwell  till  immortality  die  and  im- 
mutability change,  till  eternity  run  out  and  omnipo- 
tence is  no  longer  able  to  punish,  except  you  be  in  good 
«}arnest  renewed  throughout  by  sanctifying  grace. 
7.  The  law  discharges  all  its  threats  and  curses  at  thee. 


THE  MSERIES  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.  121 

0  how  dreadfully  doth  it  thunder.  It  flashes  devour- 
ing fire  in  thy  face.  Its  words  are  as  drawn  swords, 
and  as  the  sharp  arrows  of  the  mighty.  It  demands 
satisfaction  to  the  utmost,  and  cries,  Justice,  justice ! 
It  speaks  blood,  and  war,  and  wounds,  and  death, 
against  thee.  O  man,  away  to  thy  strong  hold ;  away 
from  thy  sins ;  haste  to  the  sanctuary,  the  city  of 
refuge — even  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  hide  thee  in  him, 
or  else  thou  art  lost,  without  any  hope  of  recovery. 
8.  The  Gospel  itself  Wndieih.  the  sentence  of  eternal 
damnation  upon  thee.  If  thou  continuest  in  thine  im- 
penitent and  unconverted  state,  know  that  the  Gos- 
pel denounceth  a  much  sorer  condemnation  than  ever 
would  have  been  for  the  transgression  only  of  the  first 
covenant.  Is  it  not  a  dreadful  case  to  have  the  Gospel 
itself  fill  its  mouth  with  threats  ;  to  have  "  the  Lord 
roar  from  mount  Zion  against  thee  ?"  Hear  the  terror 
of  the  Lord :  "  He  that  believeth  not,  shall  be  damned." 
"  Except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  perish."  "  This  is  the 
condemnation,  that  light  is  come  into  the  world,  and 
men  love  darkness  rather  than  light."  "  He  that  be- 
lieveth not,  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."  "  If 
the  word  spoken  by  angels  was  steadfast,  and  every 
transgression  and  disobedience  received  a  just  rec- 
ompense of  reward,  how  shall  we  escape  if  we  neg- 
lect so  great  salvation  ?"  "  He  that  despised  Moses' 
law  died  without  mercy :  of  how  much  sorer  pun- 
ishment shall  he  be  thought  worthy  that  hath  trod- 
den under  foot  the  Son  of  God?" 


122  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

And  is  this  true  indeed  ?  Is  this  thy  misery  ? 
Yea,  it  is  as  true  as  God  is.  Better  open  thine  eyes 
and  see  it  now,  while  thou  mayest  remedy  it,  than 
bhnd  and  harden  thyself  till,  to  thy  eternal  sorrow, 
thou  shalt  feel  Avhat  thou  wouldst  not  believe  ;  and 
if  it  be  true,  what  dost  thou  mean,  to  loiter  and 
linger  in  such  a  case  as  this  ? 

Alas  for  thee,  poor  man  !  how  effectually  hath  sin 
undone  thee,  and  deprived  and  despoiled  thee  even 
of  thy  reason  to  look  after  thine  own  everlasting  good. 
0  miserable  wretch  !  what  stupidity  and  senselessness 
have  surprised  thee.  0  let  me  knock  up  and  awake 
this  sleeper.  Who  dwells  within  the  walls  of  this 
flesh  ?  Is  there  ever  a  soul  here,  a  rational,  under- 
standing soul ;  or  art  thou  only  a  senseless  lump  ? 

Art  thou  a  reasonable  soul,  and  yet  so  far  bruti- 
fied  as  to  forget  that  thou  art  immortal,  and  to  think 
thyself  to  be  as  the  beasts  that  perish  ?  Having 
reason  to  understand  the  eternity  of  the  future  state, 
dost  thou  yet  make  light  of  being  everlastingly  mis- 
erable, which  is  to  be  so  much  below  the  brute,  as 
it  is  worse  to  act  ajjainst  reason  than  to  act  with- 
out  it?  0  unhappy  soul,  that  wast  the  glory  of 
man,  the  companion  of  angels,  and  the  image  of 
God;  that  wast  God's  representative  in  the  world, 
and  hadst  the  supremacy  amongst  the  creatures,  and 
the  dominion  over  thy  Maker's  works ;  art  thou  now 
become  a  slave  to  sense?  Art  thou  heaping  to- 
gether a  little  refined  earth,  so  unsuitable  to  thy  spir- 


THE  MISERIES  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.  133 

itual  immortal  nature  ?  0  why  dost  thou  not  be- 
think thee  where  thou  shalt  be  for  ever  ?  Death  is 
at  hand  ;  "  the  Judge  is  even  at  the  door."  Yet  a 
httle  while,  and  "time  shall  be  no  longer."  And 
wilt  thou  run  the  hazard  of  continuing  in  such  a 
state,  in  which,  if  thou  be  overtaken,  thou  art  irre- 
coverably miserable  ? 

Come  then,  arise,  and  attend  to  thy  nearest  con- 
cerns. Tell  me  whither  art  thou  going?  What, 
wilt  thou  Uve  in  such  a  course,  wherein  every  act  is 
a  step  to  perdition  ;  and  thou  dost  not  know  but  the 
next  night  thou  mayest  make  thy  bed  in  hell  ?  0, 
if  thou  hast  a  spark  of  reason,  consider,  and  turn 
and  hearken  to  thy  true  friend,  who  would  show 
thee  thy  present  misery,  that  thou  mightest  in  time 
make  thine  escape,  and  be  eternally  happy. 

Hear  whaf  the  Lord  saith :  "  Fear  ye  not  me  ? 
saith  the  Lord :  will  ye  not  tremble  at  my  presence  ?" 

0  sinners,  do  you  make  light  of  "  the  wrath  to  come  ?" 

1  am  sure  there  is  a  time  coming  when  you  will  not 
make  light  of  it.  Why,  the  very  devils  "believe 
and  tremble."  What,  are  you  more  hardened  than 
they  ?  Will  you  run  upon  the  edge  of  the  rock  ? 
Will  you  play  at  the  hole  of  the  asp  ?  Will  you 
put  your  hand  upon  the  cockatrice's  den  ?  Will  you 
dally  with  devouring  wrath  as  if  you  were  indifferent 
whether  you  escape  or  endure  it  ?  0  madness  of 
folly  !  like  that  of  a  madman  that  casteth  firebrands, 
arrows,  and  death,  and  saith,  "  Am  not  I  in  sport  ?" 


134  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

There  is  no  one  so  beside  himself  as  the  wilful  sin- 
ner, that  goeth  on  in  his  unconverted  state  without 
sense,  as  if  nothing  ailed  him.  The  man  that  runs 
into  the  cannon's  mouth,  and  sports  with  his  blood, 
or  lets  out  his  life  in  a  frolic,  is  sensible,  sober,  and 
serious,  compared  with  him  that  goeth  on  still  in  his 
trespasses ;  for  "  he  stretcheth  out  his  hand  against 
God,  and  strengtheneth  himself  against  the  Al- 
mighty :  he  runneth  upon  him,  even  upon  his  neck, 
upon  the  thick  bosses  of  his  buckler."  Is  it  wisdom 
to  sport  with  the  second  death,  or  to  venture  into 
the  lake  that  burnetii  with  fire  and  brimstone  ? 
What  shall  I  say  ?  I  can  find  out  no  expression,  no 
comparison,  whereby  to  set  forth  the  dreadful  mad- 
ness of  the  soul  that  will  go  on  in  sin. 

Awake,  awake !  0  sinner,  arise  and  take  thy  flight. 
There  is  but  one  door  that  thou  mayest  flee  by,  and 
that  is  the  strait  door  of  conversion  and  the  new 
birth.  Unless  thou  turn  unfeignedly  from  all  thy 
sins,  and  come  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  take  him  for  the 
Lord  thy  righteousness,  and  walk  in  him  in  holiness 
and  newness  of  life  ;  as  the  Lord  hveth,  it  is  not 
more  certain  that  thou  art  now  out  of  hell,  than  that 
thou  shalt  without  fail  be  in  it  but  a  few  days  or 
nights  hence.  0  set  thy  heart  to  think  of  thy  case. 
Doth  not  thy  everlasting  misery  or  welfare  deserve 
a  little  consideration  ?  Look  again  over  the  miseries 
of  the  unconverted.  If  the  Lord  hath  not  spoken 
by  me,  regard  me  not ;  but  if  it  be  the  very  word 


THE  MISERIES  OF  THE  UNCONVERTED.  125 

of  God  that  all  this  misery  lies  upon  thee,  -what  a 
case  art  thou  in !  Is  it  for  one  that  hath  his  senses 
to  hve  in  such  a  condition,  and  not  to  make  all  pos- 
sible haste  to  prevent  his  utter  ruin  ?  O  man,  who 
hath  bewitched  thee,  Gal.  3:1,  that  in  the  matters 
of  this  present  hfe  thou  shalt  be  wise  enough  to  fore- 
cast thy  business,  foresee  thy  danger,  and  prevent' 
thy  ruin  ;  but  in  matters  of  everlasting  consequence 
shalt  be  slight  and  careless,  as  if  they  little  con- 
cerned thee  ?  Is  it  nothing  to  thee  to  have  all  the 
attributes  of  God  engaged  against  thee?  Canst 
thou  live  without  his  favor  ?  Canst  thou  escape  his 
hands,  or  endure  his  vengeance  ?  Dost  thou  hear  the 
creation  groaning  under  thee,  and  hell  groaning  for 
thee,  and  yet  think  thy  case  good  enough  ?  Art 
thou  under  the  power  of  corruption,  in  the  dark, 
noisome  prison,  fettered  with  lusts,  working  out  thy 
own  damnation — and  is  not  this  worth  a  thought  ? 

Wilt  thou  make  light  of  all  the  terrors  of  the  law, 
of  all  its  curses  and  thunders,  as  if  they  were  but  the 
threatenincjs  of  a  child  ?  Dost  thou  laug-h  at  hell 
and  destruction,  or  canst  thou  drink  the  envenomed 
cup  of  the  Almighty's  fury,  as  if  it  were  but  a  com- 
mon potion  ? 

Gird  up  now  thy  loins  like  a  man,  for  I  will  de- 
mand of  thee,  and  answer  thou  me.  Art  thou  such 
a  leviathan  as  that  the  scales  of  thy  pride  should 
resist  thy  Maker  ?  Wilt  thou  esteem  his  arrows  as 
straw,  and  the  instruments  of  death  as  rotten  wood  ? 


128  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

Art  thou  chief  of  all  the  children  of  pride,  even  that 
thou  shouldst  count  his  darts  as  stubble,  and  laugh 
at  the  shaking  of  his  spear  ?  Art  thou  made  with- 
out fear,  and  contemnest  thou  his  barbed  arrows  ? 
Art  thou  like  the  horse  that  paweth  in  the  valley 
and  rejoiceth  in  his  strength,  who  goeth  out  to  meet 
the  armed  men  ?  Dost  thou  mock  at  fear,  and  art 
thou  not  affrighted,  neither  turnest  back  from  God's 
sword  when  his  quiver  rattleth  against  thee,  the  glit- 
tering spear  and  the  shield  ?  Well,  if  the  threats 
and  calls  of  the  word  will  not  awaken  thee,  I  am 
sure  death  and  judgment  will.  0  what  wilt  thou 
do  when  the  Lord  cometh  forth  against  thee,  and  in 
his  fury  falleth  upon  thee,  and  thou  shalt  feel  what 
thou  readest  ?  If  when  Daniel's  enemies  were  cast 
into  the  den  of  lions,  both  they  and  their  wives  and 
their  children,  the  lions  had  the  mastery  of  them, 
and  brake  all  their  bones  in  pieces  ere  they  came  at 
the  bottom  of  the  den,  Dan.  6 :  24,  what  shall  be- 
come of  thee  when  thou  fullest  into  the  hands  of  the 
living  God  ? 

0  do  not  then  contend  with  God.  "  Repent  and 
be  converted,"  so  none  of  this  shall  come  upon 
thee.  "  Seek  ye  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found ; 
call  ye  upon  him  while  he  is  near.  Let  the  wicked 
forsake  his  way,  and  the  unrighteous  man  his 
thoughts  :  and  let  him  return  unto  the  Lord,  and  he 
will  have  mercy  upon  him,  and  to  our  God,  for  he 
will  abundantly  pardon," 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  127 

CHAPTER  VI. 

DIRECTIONS    TO   THE    UNCOITVERTED. 

Before  thou  readest  these  directions,  I  advise 
thee,  yea,  I  charge  thee,  before  God  and  his  holy 
angels,  that  thou  resolve  to  follow  them,  as  far  as 
conscience  shall  be  convinced  of  their  agreeableness 
to  God's  word  and  thy  state ;  and  call  in  his  assist- 
ance and  blessing  that  they  may  succeed.  And  as 
I  have  sought  the  Lord  and  consulted  his  oracles 
what  advice  to  give  thee,  so  must  thou  entertain  it 
with  that  awe,  reverence,  and  purpose  of  obedience, 
which  the  word  of  the  living  God  requires. 

Now,  then,  attend :  "  Set  your  heart  unto  all  that 
I  shall  testify  unto  you  this  day  ;  for  it  is  not  a  vain 
thing — it  is  your  life."  This  is  the  end  of  all  that 
has  been  spoken  hitherto,  to  bring  you  to  set  your 
heart  upon  turning  to  God.  I  would  not  trouble 
you,  nor  "torment  you  before  the  time,"  with  the 
thoughts  of  your  eternal  misery,  but  in  order  to  your 
making  your  escape.  Were  you  shut  up  under  your 
present  misery  without  remedy,  it  were  but  mercy 
to  let  you  alone,  that  you  might  take  in  that  little 
poor  comfort  which  you  are  capable  of  in  this  world  ; 
but  you  may  yet  be  happy,  if  you  do  not  wilfully 
refuse  the  means  of  your  recovery.  Behold,  I  hold 
open  the  door  to  you ;  arise,  take  your  flight :  I  set 
the  way  of  life  before  you ;  walk  in  it,  and  you  shall 


128  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

live,  and  not  die.  It  grieves  me  that  ydu  should  be 
your  own  murderers,  and  throw  yourselves  headlong, 
when  God  and  man  cry  out  to  you,  as  Peter  in  an- 
other case  to  his  Master,  "  Spare  thyself." 

The  destruction  of  ungodly  men  is  wilful.  God 
that  made  them  crieth  out  to  them,  as  Paul  to  the 
distracted  jailer  when  about  to  murder  himself,  "  Do 
thyself  no  harm."  The  ministers  of  Christ  forewarn 
them,  and  follow  them,  and  would  gladly  have  them 
back ;  but,  alas,  no  expostulations  or  entreaties  will 
prevail,  but  men  will  hurl  themselves  into  perdition, 
while  pity  itself  looketh  on. 

What  shall  I  say  ?  Would  it  not  grieve  a  person 
of  any  humanity,  if,  in  the  time  of  a  raging  plague, 
he  should  have  a  remedy  that  would  infallibly  cure 
all  the  country  and  recover  the  most  hopeless  pa- 
tients, and  yet  his  friends  and  neighbors  should  die 
by  hundreds  about  him,  because  they  would  not 
use  it  ?  Men  and  brethren,  though  you  carry  the 
certain  symptoms  of  death  in  your  faces,  yet  I  have 
a  receipt  that  will  cure  you  all  infallibly.  Follow 
but  these  directions,  and  if  you  do  not  then  win 
heaven,  I  will  be  content  to  lose  it. 

Hear  then,  0  sinner,  and  as  ever  thou  wouldst 
be  converted  and  saved,  embrace  this  following 
counsel. 

Direction  I.  Set  it  down  with  thyself  as  an  un- 
doubted truth,  that  it  is  impossible  for  thee  ever  to 
get  to  heaven  in  this  thy  unconverted  state. 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED,  129 

Can  any  other  but  Christ  save  thee  ?  and  he  tells 
thee  he  will  never  do  it  except  thou  be  regenerated 
and  converted.  Doth  he  not  keep  the  keys  of 
heaven;  and  canst  thou  go  in  without  his  leave? 
as  thou  must,  if  ever  thou  come  thither  in  thy 
natural  condition,  without  a  sound  and  thorough 
conversion. 

Direction  II.  Labor  to  get  a  thorough  sight  and 
lively  sense  and  feeling  of  thy  sins. 

Till  men  are  weary  and  heaven  laden,  and  pricked 
at  the  heart,  and  quite  sick  of  sin,  they  will  not 
come  to  Christ,  in  his  way,  for  cure,  nor  to  purpose 
inquire,  "  What  shall  we  do  ?"  They  must  set 
themselves  down  for  dead  men,  before  they  will 
come  unto  Christ  that  they  may  have  life.  Labor, 
therefore,  to  set  all  thy  sins  in  order  before  thee ; 
never  be  afraid  to  look  upon  them,  but  let  thy  spirit 
make  diligent  search.  Inquire  into  thine  heart,  and 
into  thy  life ;  enter  into  a  thorough  examination  of 
thyself  and  all  thy  ways,  that  thou  mayest  make  a 
full  discovery ;  and  call  in  the  help  of  God's  Spirit, 
in  the  sense  of  thine  own  inability  hereunto,  for  it  is 
his  proper  work  to  convince  of  sin.  Spread  all  be- 
fore* thy  conscience,  till  thy  heart  and  eyes  be  set 
weeping.  Leave  not  striving  with  God  and  thine 
own  soul,  till  it  cry  out  under  the  sense  of  thy  sins, 
as  the  enlightened  jailer,  "What  must  I  do  to  be 
saved  ?"     To  this  purpose. 

Meditate  on  the  number  of  thy  sins.     David's 

AUeine'i  Alann.  0 


130  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

heart  failed  when  he  thought  of  this,  and  considered 
that  he  had  more  sins  than  the  hairs  of  his  head. 
This  made  him  cry  out  for  the  multitude  of  God's 
tender  mercies.  Look  backward ;  where  Avas  ever 
the  place,  what  was  ever  the  time,  in  which  thou 
didst  not  sin  ?  Look  inward ;  what  part  or  power 
canst  thou  find  in  soul  or  body  but  it  is  poisoned 
with  sin ;  what  duty  dost  thou  ever  perform,  into 
which  this  poison  is  not  shed  ?  0  how  great  is  the 
sum  of  thy  debts,  who  hast  been  all  thy  life  running 
upon  trust,  and  never  didst  or  canst  pay  off  one 
penny !  Look  over  the  sin  of  thy  nature,  and  all  its 
cursed  brood,  the  sins  of  thy  life.  Call  to  mind  thy 
omissions  and  commissions  ;  the  sins  of  thy  thoughts, 
words,  and  actions ;  the  sins  of  thy  youth,  and  the 
sins  of  thy  riper  years.  Be  not  like  a  desperate 
bankrupt,  that  is  afraid  to  look  over  his  books. 
Read  the  records  of  conscience  carefully.  These 
books  must  be  opened  sooner  or  later. 

Meditate  on  the  aggravations  of  thy  sins,  as  they 
are  the  grand  enemies  of  the  God  of  thy  life,  and 
of  the  life  of  thy  soul :  in  a  word,  they  are  the  pub- 
lic enemies  of  all  mankind.  How  do  David,  Ezra, 
Daniel,  and  the  good  Levites,  aggravate  their  sins, 
from  the  consideration  of  their  opposition  to  God 
and  his  good  and  righteous  laws,  and  of  the  mercies 
and  warnings  against  which  they  were  committed ! 
0  the  work  that  sin  has  made  in  the  world !  This 
is  the  enemy  that  has  brought  in  death;  that  has 


DiEEcnoNS  TO  THE  uncon\t:rted.  131 

robbed  and  enslaved  man ;  that  has  done  the  work 
of  the  devil,  and  digged  hell.  This  is  the  enemy 
that  has  turned  the  world  upside  down,  and  sown 
dissensions  between  man  and  the  creatures,  betwixt 
man  and  man,  yea,  between  man  and  himself,  setting 
the  animal  part  against  the  rational,  the  will  against 
the  judgment,  lust  against  conscience ;  yea,  worst 
of  all,  between  God  and  man,  making  the  sinner 
both  hateful  to  God  and  the  hater  of  God.  0  man, 
how  canst  thou-  make  so  light  of  sin?  This  is  the 
traitor  that  thirsted  for  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God, 
that  sold  him,  that  mocked  him,  that  scourged  him 
that  spit  in  his  face,  that  tore  his  hands,  that  pierced 
his  side,  that  pressed  his  soul,  that  mangled  his 
body,  that  never  left  him  till  he  had  bound  him, 
condemned  him,  nailed  him,  crucified  him,  and  put 
him  to  an  open  shame.  This  is  that  deadly  poison, 
so  powerful  of  operation  that  one  drop  of  it,  shed  on 
the  root  of  mankind,  has  corrupted,  spoiled,  poisoned, 
and  ruined  his  whole  race.  This  the  bloody  execu- 
tioner that  has  killed  the  prophets,  burnt  the  mar- 
tyrs, murdered  all  the  apostles,  all  the  patriarchs, 
all  the  kings  and  potentates ;  that  has  destroyed 
cities,  swallowed  empires,  and  devoured  whole 
nations.  Whatever  weapon  it  was  done  by,  it  was 
sin  that  caused  the  execution.  Dost  thou  yet  think 
it  but  a  small  thing  ?  If  Adam  and  all  his  children 
could  be  dug  out  of  their  graves,  and  their  bodies 
piled  up  to  heaven,  and  an  inquest  were  made  what 


132  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

matchless  murderer  were  guilty  of  all  this  blood,  it 
would  be  all  found  in  sin.  Study  the  nature  of  sin, 
till  thy  heart  incline  to  fear  and  loathe  it ;  and  medi- 
tate on  the  aggravations  of  thy  particular  sins,  how 
thou  hast  sinned  against  all  God's  warnings,  against 
thy  own  prayers,  against  mercies,  against  corrections, 
against  clearest  light,  against  freest  love,  against 
thine  own  resolutions,  against  promises,  vows,  and 
covenants  of  better  obedience.  Charge  thy  heart 
home  with  these  things  till  it  blush  for  shame,  and 
be  brought  out  of  all  good  opinion  of  itself. 

Meditate  on  the  desert  of  sin.  It  crieth  to  Heaven ; 
it  calls  for  vengeance.  Its  due  wages  are  death  and 
damnation;  it  brings  the  curse  of  God  upon  the 
soul  and  body.  The  least  sinful  word  or  thought 
lays  thee  under  the  infinite  wrath  of  God.  O  what 
a  load  of  wrath,  what  a  weight  of  curses,  what 
treasures  of  vengeance,  have  all  the  millions  of  thy 
sins  deserved !  0  judge  thyself,  that  the  Lord  may 
not  judge  thee. 

Meditate  on  the  deformity  and  defilement  of  sin.' 
It  is  black  as  hell,  the  very  image  and  likeness  of 
the  devil  drawn  upon  the  soul.  1  John,  3:8,  10. 
It  would  affright  thee  to  see  thyself  in  the  hateful 
deformity  of  thy  nature.  There  is  no  mire  so  un- 
clean, no  plague  or  leprosy  so  noisome  as  sin,  in 
which  thou  art  plunged  and  rendered  more  dis- 
pleasing to  the  pure  and  holy  nature  of  the  glorious 
God  than  the  vilest  object  can  be  to  thee.     Couldst 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  133 

thou  take  up  a  toad  into  thy  bosom ;  couldst  thou 
cherish  it,  and  take  dehght  in  it  ?  But  thou  art  as 
contrary  to  the  pure  and  perfect  hohness  of  the 
divine  nature,  till  thou  art  purified  by  the  blood  of 
Jesus  and  the  power  of  renewing  grace. 

Above  all  other  sins,  consider  these  two. 

1.  The  sin  of  ihj  heart.  It  is  to  little  purpose  to 
lop  off  the  branches  while  the  root  of  corruption 
remains  untouched.  In  vain  do  men  lave  out  the 
streams,  when  the  fountain  is  running  that  fills  up 
all  again.  Let  the  axe  of  thy  repentance,  with 
David's,  go  to  the  root  of  sin.  Study  how  deep, 
how  permanent  is  thy  natural  pollution,  how  uni- 
versal it  is,  till  thou  dost  cry  out,  with  Paul,  upon 
thy  body  of  death.  The  heart  is  never  soundly 
broken  till  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  heinousness 
of  its  original  and  deep-rooted  depravity.  Here  fix 
thy  thoughts ;  this  is  that  which  makes  thee  back- 
ward to  all  good,  and  prone  to  all  evil ;  that  sheds 
bhndness,  pride,  prejudice,  and  unbelief  into  thy 
mind ;  enmity,  inconstancy,  and  obstinacy  into  thy 
will ;  inordinate  heats  and  colds  into  thy  affections ; 
insensibleness  and  unfaithfulness  into  thy  conscience ; 
slipperiness  into  thy  memory ;  and,  in  a  word,  hath 
put  every  wheel  of  the  soul  out  of  order,  and  made 
it,  from  a  habitation  of  holiness,  to  become  a  very 
hell  of  iniquity.  This  is  what  hath  defiled  and  per- 
verted all  thy  members,  and  turned  them  into 
weapons  of  unrighteousness,  and  servants  of  sin ; 


134  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

that  hath  filled  the  head  with  carnal  and  corrupt 
designs  ;  the  hand  with  sinful  practices ;  the  eyes 
with  wandering  and  wantonness  ;  the  tongue  with 
deadly  poison ;  that  hath  opened  the  ears  to  tales, 
flattery,  and  filthy  communication,  and  shut  them 
against  the  instructions  of  life ;  and  hath  rendered 
thy  heart  the  cursed  source  of  all  deadly  imagina- 
tions, so  that  it  poureth  out  its  wickedness  without 
ceasing  even  as  naturally  as  a  fountain  doth  pour 
forth  its  waters,  or  the  raging  sea  doth  cast  forth 
mire  and  dirt.  And  wilt  thou  yet  be  in  love  with 
thyself,  and  tell  us  any  longer  of  thy  good  heart  ? 
O  never  leave  meditating  on  the  desperate  conta- 
gion, the  original  corruption  of  thy  heart,  till,  with 
Ephraim,  thou  bemoan  thyself ;  and  with  the  deepest 
shame  and  sorrow  smite  on  thy  breast,  as  the  pub- 
lican ;  and,  with  Job,  abhor  thyself,  and  repent  in 
dust  and  ashes. 

2.  The  particular  evil  that  thou  art  most  addicted 
to :  find  out  all  its  aggravations,  set  home  upon  thy 
heart  all  God's  threats  against  it ;  repentance  drives 
before  it  the  whole  herd,  but  especially  sticks  the 
arrow  in  the  beloved  sin,  and  singles  this  out,  above 
the  rest,  to  run  it  down.  0  labor  to  make  this  sin 
odious  to  thy  soul,  and  double  thy  guard  and  reso- 
lutions against  it,  because  this  doth  most  dishonor 
God  and  endanger  thee. 

Direction  III.  Strive  to  aff"ect  thy  heart  with  a 
deep  sense  of  thy  present  misery. 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  135 

Read  over  the  foregoing  chapter  again  and  again, 
and  get  it  out  of  the  book  into  thy  heart.  Remem- 
ber when  thou  liest  down,  that,  for  aught  thou 
knowest,  thou  mayest  awake  in  flames  ;  and  when 
thou  risest  up,  that  by  the  next  night  thou  mayest 
make  thy  bed  in  hell.  Is  it  nothing  to  thee  to  live 
in  such  a  fearful  case,  to  stand  tottering  on  the  brink 
of  the  bottomless  pit ;  and  to  live  at  the  mercy  of 
every  disease,  that,  if  it  but  fall  upon  thee,  will  send 
thee  forthwith  into  the  burnings  ?  Suppose  thou 
sawest  a  condemned  wretch  hanging  over  Nebu- 
chadnezzar's burning  fiery  furnace  by  nothing  but  a 
thread  which  was  ready  to  break  every  moment, 
would  not  thy  heart  tremble  for  such  a  one  ?  Thou 
art  the  man  :  this  is  thy  very  case,  0  man,  woman, 
that  readest  this,  if  thou  be  yet  unconverted.  What 
if  the  thread  of  thy  life  should  break — and  thou 
knowest  not  but  it  may  be  the  next  night,  yea, 
the  next  moment — ^where  wouldst  thou  be  then; 
whither  wouldst  thou  drop  ?  Verily,  upon  the 
breaking  of  this  thread,  thou  fallest  into  the  lake 
that  burns  with  fire  and  brimstone,  where  thou 
must  lie  while  God  hath  a  being,  if  thou  die  in 
thy  present  case.  And  doth  not  thy  soul  trem- 
ble as  thou  readest?  Do  not  thy  tears  bedew 
the  paper,  and  thy  heart  throb  in  thy  bosom  ? 
Dost  thou  not  yet  begin  to  smite  on  thy  breast, 
and  bethink  thyself  what  need  thou  hast  of  a 
change  ?    0  what  is  thy  heart  made  of  ?    Hast  thou 


136'  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

not  only  lost  all  regard  to  God,  but  all  love  and 
pity  to  thyself  ? 

0  study  thy  misery  till  thy  heart  cry  out  for 
Christ  as  earnestly  as  ever  a  drowning  man  did  for 
a  boat,  or  the  wounded  for  a  surgeon.  Men  must 
come  to  see  the  danger  and  feel  the  smart  of  their 
deadly  sores  and  sickness,  or  Christ  will  be  to  them 
a  physician  of  no  value.  The  manslayer  hastens  to 
the  city  of  refuge,  when  pursued  by  the  avenger  of 
blood  ;  but  men  must  be  even  forced  and  driven  out 
of  themselves,  or  theyjvill  not  come  to  Christ.  It 
was  distress  and  extremity  that  made  the  prodigal 
think  of  returning.  While  Laodicea  thinks  herself 
rich,  increased  in  goods,  in  need  of  nothing,  there  is 
little  hope.  She  must  be  deeply  convinced  of  her 
wretchedness,  blindness,  poverty,  and  nakedness, 
before  she  will  come  to  Christ  for  his  gold,  raiment, 
and  eye-salve.  Therefore  hold  the  eyes  of  con- 
science open,  amplify  thy  misery  as  much  as  possi- 
ble, do  not  flee  the  sight  of  it  for  fear  it  should  fill 
thee  with  terror.  The  sense  of  thy  misery  is  but 
as  it  were  the  suppuration  of  the  wound,  Avhich  is 
necessary  to  the  cure.  Better  now  to  fear  the 
torments  that  abide  thee,  than  to  feel  them  here- 
after. 

Direction  IV.  Settle  it  upon  thy  heart  that  thou 
must  look  out  of  thyself  and  away  from  thy  own 
doings  for  help. 

Never  think  thy  praying,  reading,  hearing,  con- 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  137 

fessing,  or  amending,  will  do  the  cure ;  these  must 
be  attended  to,  but  thou  art  undone  if  thou  rest  in 
them ;  thou  art  a  lost  man  if  thou  hope  to  escape 
drowning  on  any  other  plank  but  Jesus  Christ. 
Thou  must  unlearn  thyself,  and  renounce  thine 
own  wisdom,  thine  own  righteousness,  thine  own 
strength,  and  throw  thyself  wholly  upon  Christ,  or 
thou  canst  not  escape.  While  men  trust  in  them- 
selves, and  establish  their  own  righteousness,  and 
have  confidence  in  the  flesh,  they  will  not  come 
savingly  to  Christ.  Thou  must  know  thy  gain  to 
be  but  loss,  thy  strength  but  weakness,  thy  righteous- 
ness rags  and  rottenness,  before  there  will  be  an 
effectual  closure  between  Christ  and  thee.  Can 
the  lifeless  body  shake  off  its  grave-clothes,  and 
loose  the  bands  of  death  ?  Then  mayest  thou  re- 
cover thyself,  who  art  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins, 
and  under  an  impossibility  of  serving  thy  Maker 
acceptably  in  this  condition.  Therefore,  when  thou 
goest  to  pray  or  meditate,  or  to  do  any  of  the  duties 
to  which  thou  art  here  directed,  go  out  of  thyself, 
call  in  the  help  of  the  Spirit,  as  despairing  to  do 
any  thing  pleasing  to  God  in  thine  own  strength ; 
yet  neglect  not  duty,  put  thyself  in  the  way  of  the 
Spirit.  While  the  eunuch  was  reading,  then  the 
Holy  Ghost  did  send  Phihp  to  him.  When  the  dis- 
ciples were  praying,  when  Cornelius  and  his  friends 
were  heaiing,  then  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  upon  them 
and  filled  them  all. 


138  ALLEINE'S  ALAR>L 

Direction  V.  Forthwith  renounce  all  thy  sins. 

If  thou  yield  thyself  to  the  practice  of  any  sin, 
thou  art  undone.  In  vain  dost  thou  hope  for  life 
by  Christ,  except  thou  depart  from  iniquity.  For- 
sake thy  sins,  or  thou  canst  not  find  mercy.  Thou 
canst  not  be  mamed  to  Christ  except  divorced  from 
sin.  Give  up  the  traitor,  or  you  can  have  no  peace 
with  heaven.  Thou  must  part  with  thy  sins  or  with 
thy  soul ;  spare  but  one  sin  and  God  will  not  spare 
thee.  Thy  sins  must  die,  or  thou  must  die  for  them. 
If  thou  allow  of  one  sin,  though  but  a  little,  a  secret 
one,  though  thou  mayest  plead  necessity,  and  have 
a  hundred  shifts  and  excuses  for  it,  the  life  of  thy 
soul  must  go  for  the  life  of  that  sin.  And  will  it 
not  be  dearly  bought  ? 

0  sinner,  hear  and  consider :  if  thou  wilt  part 
with  thy  sins  God  will  give  thee  his  Christ.  Is  not 
this  a  fair  exchange  ?  I  testify  unto  you  this  day, 
that  if  you  perish,  it  is  not  because  there  was  never 
a  Saviour  provided  nor  life  tendered,  but  because, 
with  the  Jews,  you  prefer  the  murderer  before  the 
Saviour,  sin  before  Christ,  "and  love  darknoes  rather 
than  light."  Search  thy  heart  therefore  with  can- 
dles, as  the  Jews  did  their  houses  for  leaven  before 
the  passover.  Labor  to  find  out  thy  sins ;  enter  into 
thy  closet,  and  consider,  What  evil  have  I  lived  in ; 
what  duty  have  I  neglected  towards  God ;  what 
sin  have  I  lived  in  against  my  brother  ?  And  now 
strike  the  darts  through  the  heart  of  thy  sin,  as  Joab 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  139 

did  through  Absalom's.  Never  stand  looking  upon 
thy  sins,  nor  rolling  the  morsel  under  thy  tDngue, 
but  cast  it  out  as  poison,  with  fear  and  detestation. 
Alas,  what  will  thy  sins  do  for  thee,  that  thou 
shouldst  hesitate  to  part  with  them?  They  will 
flatter  thee,  but  they  will  undo  thee  and  poison  thee 
while  they  please  thee,  and  arm  the  justice  and 
wrath  of  the  infinite  God  against  thee.  They  will 
open  hell  for  thee,  and  pile  up  fuel  to  burn  thee. 
Behold  the  gibbet  that  they  have  prepared  for  thee. 
0  serve  them  like  Haman,  and  do  upon  them  the 
execution  they  would  else  have  done  upon  thee. 
Away  with  them,  crucify  them  and  let  Christ  only 
be  Lord  over  thee. 

Direction  VI.  Make  a  solemn  choice  of  God  for 
thy  portion  and  blessedness. 

With  all  possible  devotion  and  veneration  avouch 
the  Lord  for  thy  God :  set  the  world,  with  all  its 
glory,  and  pjiiut,  and  gallantry,  with  all  its  pleasures 
and  promotions,  on  the  one  hand ;  and  set  God, 
with  all  his  infinite  excellences  and  perfections,  on 
the  other ;  and  see  that  thou  do  deliberately  make 
thy  choice.  Take  up  thy  rest  in  God.  Sit  thee 
down  under  his  shadow.  Let  his  promises  and  per- 
fections turn  the  scale  against  all  the  world.  Settle 
it  upon  thy  heart,  that  the  Lord  is  an  all-sufficient 
portion,  that  thou  canst  not  be  miserable  whilst  thou 
hast  God  to  hve  upon.  Take  him  for  thy  shield 
and  exceeding  great  reward.     God  alone  is  more 


140  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

than  all  the  world  ;  content  thyself  with  him.  Let 
others  possess  the  preferments  and  glory  of  the 
world ;  place  thou  thy  happiness  in  the  favor  of 
God,  and  in  the  light  of  his  countenance. 

Poor  sinner,  thou  hast  fallen  off  from  God,  and 
hast  engaged  his  power  and  wrath  against  thee ;  yet 
know,  that  of  his  abundant  grace  he  doth  offer  to 
be  thy  God  again  in  Christ.  What  sayest  thou; 
wilt  thou  have  the  Lord  for  thy  God  ?  Take  this 
counsel,  and  thou  shalt  have  him  ;  come  to  him  by 
Christ,  renounce  the  idols  of  thy  pleasures,  gain, 
and  reputation ;  let  these  be  pulled  from  their 
throne,  and  set  God's  interest  uppermost  jn  thy 
heart.  Take  him  as  God,  to  be  chief  in  thy  affec- 
tions and  purposes ;  for  he  will  not  endure  to  have 
any  set  above  him.  In  a  word,  thou  must  take  him 
in  all  his  personal  relations  and  in  all  his  essential 
perfections. 

1.  In  all  his  personal  relations,  God  the  Father 
must  be  taken  for  thy  Father.  0  come  to  him  with 
the  prodigal :  "  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven, 
and  in  thy  sight,  and  am  not  worthy  to  be  called 
thy  son  ;"  but  since,  of  thy  wonderful  mercy,  thou 
art  pleased  to  take  me,  that  am  of  myself  most  vile, 
even  a  beast  and  no  man  before  thee,  to  be  a  child, 
I  solemnly  take  thee  for  my  Father,  commend  my- 
self to  thy  care,  and  trust  to  thy  providence,  and 
cast  my  burden  on  thee.  I  depend  on  thy  provision, 
and  submit  to  thy  corrections,  and  trust  under  the 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  141 

shadow  of  thy  wings,  and  hide  in  thy  chambers,  and 
fly  to  thy  name.  I  renounce  all  confidence  in  my- 
self ;  I  repose  my  confidence  in  thee ;  I  declare  my 
enorasfement  with  thee ;  I  will  be  for  thee,  and  not 
for  another. 

God  the  Son  must  be  taken  for  thy  Saviour,  thy 
Redeemer,  and  thy  righteousness.  He  must  be  ac- 
cepted, as  the  only  way  to  the  Father,  and  the  only 
means  of  life.  0  then  put  off  the  raiment  of  thy 
captivity,  put  on  the  wedding  garment,  and  go  and 
marry  thyself  to  Christ.  "  Lord,  I  am  thine,  and  all 
I  have,  my  body,  soul,  and  estate.  I  give  my  heart 
to  thee  ;  I  will  be  thine  undividedly,  thine  everlast- 
ingly. I  will  set  thy  name  on  all  I  have,  and  use  it 
only  as  thy  goods,  during  thy  leave,  resigning  all  to 
thee.  I  will  have  no  king  but  thee  to  reign  over 
me.  Other  lords  have  had  dominion  over  me ;  but 
now  I  will  make  mention  of  thy  name  only,  and  do 
here  take  an  oath  of  fealty  to  thee,  promising  to 
serv'e  and  fear  thee  above  all  competitors.  I  disa- 
vow mine  own  righteousness,  and  despair  of  ever 
being  pardoned  and  saved  for  my  own  duties  or 
graces,  and  lean  solely  on  thy  all-sufficient  sacrifice 
and  intercession  for  pardon,  and  life,  and  acceptance 
before  God.  I  take  thee  for  my  only  guide  and  in- 
structor, resolving  to  be  directed  by  thee,  and  to 
wait  for  thy  coimsel." 

Lastly,  God  the  Spirit  must  be  taken  for  thy 
sanctifier,  for  thy  advocate,  thy  counsellor,  thy  com- 


142  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

forter,  the  teacher  of  thy  ignorance,  the  pledge  and 
earnest  of  thy  inheritance.  "  Awake  thou  North 
wind,  and  come,  thou  South,  and  blow  upon  my 
garden."  "Come,  thou  Spirit  of  the  Most  High; 
here  is  a  temple  for  thee ;  here  do  thou  rest  for 
ever ;  dwell  here ;  lo,  I  give  possession  to  thee,  full 
possession ;  I  send  thee  the  keys  of  my  heart,  that 
all  may  be  thine.  I  give  up  the  use  of  all  to  thee, 
that  every  faculty  and  every  member  may  be  thy 
instrument  to  Avork  righteousness  and  do  the  will  of 
my  Father  who  is  in  heaven." 

2.  In  all  his  essential  perfections.  Consider  how 
the  Lord  hath  revealed  himself  to  you  in  his  word. 
Will  you  take  him  as  such  a  God  ?  O,  sinner,  here 
is  the  most  blessed  news  that  ever  came  to  the  sons 
of  men :  "  The  Lord  will  be  thy  God,"  if  thou  wilt 
but  close  with  him  in  his  excellences.  Wilt  thou 
have  the  merciful,  the  gracious,  the  sin-pardoning 
God  to  be  thy  God  ?  "0  yes,"  saith  the  sinner, 
"  I  am  undone  else."  But  he  farther  tells  thee,  I 
am  the  holy  and  sin-hating  God;  if  thou  wilt  be 
owned  as  one  of  my  people,  thou  must  be  holy — 
holy  in  heart,  holy  in  life ;  thou  must  put  away  aU 
thy  iniquities,  be  they  ever  so  dear,  ever  so  natural, 
ever  so  necessary  to  the  maintaining  of  thy  worldly 
interest.  Unless  thou  wilt  be  at  enmity  with  sin,  I 
cannot  be  thy  God.  Cast  out  the  leaven.  "Put 
away  the  evil  of  thy  doings ;  cease  to  do  evil ;  learn 
to  do  well."     Bring  forth  mine  enemies,  or  there  is 


DffiECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  143 

no  peace  to  be  had  with  me.  What  doth  thine 
heart  answer?  "Lord,  I  desire  to  have  thee  as 
such  a  God ;  I  desire  to  be  holy  as  thou  art  holy, 
and  to  be  made  partaker  of  thy  holiness.  I  love 
thee,  not  only  for  thy  goodness  and  mercy,  but  for 
thy  holiness  and  purity.  I  take  thy  holiness  for  my'' 
happiness :  O  be  to  me  a  fountain  of  holiness  ;  set 
on  me  the  stamp  and  impress  of  thy  holiness  :  I  will 
thankfully  part  with  all  my  sins  at  thy  command. 
My  wilful  sins  I  do  forthwith  forsake  ;  and  for  mine 
infirmities  that  cleave  unto  me,  though  I  would  be 
rid  of  them,  I  will  strive  against  them  continually  : 
I  detest  them,  and  will  pray  against  them,  and  never 
let  them  have  rest  in  my  soul."  Beloved,  whoever 
of  you  will  thus  accept  the  Lord,  he  shall  be  your 
God. 

Again,  he  tells  you,  "I  am  the  all-suflBcient  God." 
Will  you  lay  all  at  my  feet,  give  up  all  to  my  dis- 
posal, and  take  me  for  your  only  portion  ?  Will 
you  own  and  honor  my  all- sufficiency  ?  Will  you 
take  me  as  your  happiness  and  treasure,  your  hope 
and  bliss  ?  I  am  a  sxm  and  a  shield  all  in  one ;  will 
you  have  me  for  your  all  ?  Now  what  dost  thou 
say  to  this  ?  Doth  thy  soul  long  for  the  onions  and 
flesh-pots  of  Egypt  ?  Art  thou  loath  to  change  thy 
earthly  happiness  for  a  portion  in  God ;  and  though 
thou  wouldst  be  glad  to  have  God  and  the  world 
too,  yet  canst  thou  not  think  of  having  him,  and 
nothing  but  him ;  but  hadst  rather  take  up  with  the- 


144  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

earth  below,  if  God  would  but  let  tbee  keep  it  as 
long  as  thou  wouldst  ?  This  is  a  fearful  sign.  But 
now,  if  thou  art  willing  to  sell  all  for  the  pearl  of 
great  price ;  if  thine  heart  answer,  "  Lord,  I  desire 
no  other  portion  but  thee ;  take  the  corn,  and  the 
wine,  and  the  oil  who  will,  so  I  may  have  the  light 
of  thy  countenance ;  I  fix  upon  thee  for  my  happi- 
ness ;  I  gladly  venture  myself  on  thee,  and  trust 
myself  with  thee ;  I  set  my  hope  in  thee ;  I  take  up 
my  rest  with  thee ;  let  me  hear  thee  say,  I  am  thy 
God,  thy  salvation,  and  I  have  enough,  all  I  wish 
for ;  I  will  make  no  terms  with  thee  but  for  thyself ; 
let  me  but  have  thee  sure ;  let  me  be  able  to  make 
my  claim  and  see  my  title  to  thyself ;  and  for  other 
things,  I  leave  them  to  thee ;  give  me  more  or  less, 
any  thing  or  nothing ;  I  will  be  satisfied  in  my  God." 
Take  him  thus,  and  he  is  thy  own. 

Again,  he  tells  you,  I  am  the  sovereign  Lord ;  if 
you  will  have  me  for  your  God  you  must  give  me 
the  supremacy.  You  must  not  make  me  second  to 
sin  or  any  worldly  interest.  If  you  will  be  my 
people  I  must  have  the  rule  over  you ;  you  must 
not  Uve  at  your  own  pleasure.  Will  you  come 
under  my  yoke?  Will  you  bow  to  my  govern- 
ment ?  Will  you  submit  to  my  discipline,  to  my 
word,  to  my  rod?  Sinner,  what  sayest  thou  to 
this?  "Lord,  I  had  rather  be  at  thy  command 
than  live  at  my  own  will ;  I  had  rather  have  thy 
will  to  be  done  than  mine ;  I  approve  of  and  con- 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  145 

sent  to  thy  laws,  and  account  it  my  privilege  to  be 
under  them.  And  though  the  flesh  rebel,  and  often 
bieak  its  bounds,  I  have  resolved  to  take  no  other 
Lord  but  thee.  I  -vvillingly  take  the  oath  of  thy 
supremacy,  and  acknowledge  thee  for  my  Sovereign, 
and  resolve  all  my  days  to  pay  the  tribute  of  wor- 
ship, obedience,  love,  and  service  to  thee,  and  to  live 
to  thee  to  the  end  of  my  life."  This  is  a  right  ac- 
ceptance of  God. 

To  be  short,  he  tells  you,  I  am  the  true  and 
faithful  God.  If  you  will  have  me  for  your  God 
you  must  be  content  to  trust  me.  Will  you  venture 
yourselves  upon  my  word,  and  depend  on  my  faith- 
fulness, and  take  my  bond  for  your  security  ?  Will 
you  be  content  to  follow  me  in  poverty,  and  re- 
proach, and  affliction  here ;  and  to  tarry  till  the 
next  world  for  your  preferment  ?  Will  you  be  con- 
tent to  labor  and  suffer,  and  to  tarry  for  your  returns 
till  the  resurrection  of  tlfe  just  ?  My  promise  will 
not  always  be  instantly  fulfilled  ;  will  you  have  the 
patience  to  wait  ?  Now,  beloved,  what  say  you  to 
this  ?  Will  you  have  this  God  for  your  God  ?  Will 
you  be  content  to  live  by  faith,  and  trust  him  for  an 
unseen  happiness,  an  unseen  heaven,  an  unseen 
glory?  Do  your  hearts  answer,  "Lord,  we  will 
venture  ourselves  upon  thee ;  we  commit  ourselves 
to  thfie ;  we  cast  ourselves  upon  thee  ;  we  know 
whom  we  have  trusted ;  we  are  willing  to  take  thy 
word  ;  we  prefer  thy  promises  before  our  own  pos- 

Allelnt'i  Alum.  ^  v 


146  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

sessions,  and  the  hopes  of  heaven  before  all  the  en- 
joynaents  of  earth ;  we  Avill  do  thy  pleasure — what 
thou  wilt  here,  so  that  we  may  have  but  thy  faith- 
ful promise  for  heaven  hereafter."  If  you  can  in 
truth,  and  upon  deliberation,  thus  accept  of  God, 
he  will  be  yours.  Thus  there  must  be,  in  a  right 
conversion  to  God,  a  closing  with  him  suitable  to 
his  excellences.  But  when  men  close  with  his 
mercy,  but  yet  love  sin,  hating  holiness  and  purity ; 
or  will  take  him  for  their  benefactor,  but  not  for 
their  sovereign ;  or  for  their  patron,  and  not  for 
their  portion;  this  is  no  thorough  and  sound  con- 
version. 

Direction  VII.  Accept  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  all 
his  offices,  as  thine. 

Upon  these  terms  Christ  may  be  had.  Sinner, 
thou  hast  undone  thyself,  and  art  plunged  into  the 
ditch  of  most  deplorable  misery,  out  of  which  thou 
art  never  able  to  escape ;  but  Jesus  Christ  is  able 
and  ready  to  help  thee,  and  he  freely  tenders  him- 
self to  thee.  Be  thy  sins  ever  so  many,  ever  so 
great,  or  of  ever  so  long  continuance,  yet  thou  shalt 
be  most  certainly  pardoned  and  saved,  if  thou  dost 
not  wretchedly  neglect  the  offer  that  in  the  name 
of  God  is  here  made  to  thee.  The  Lord  Jesus 
calleth  thee  to  look  to  him  and  be  saved.  "  Come 
unto  him,  and  he  will  in  nowise  cast  thee  out." 
Yea,  he  beseecheth  thee  to  be  reconciled.  He 
crieth  in  the  streets ;  he  knocketh  at  thy  door ;  he 


DraECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  147 

inviteth  thee  to  accept  of  him,  and  hve  with  him. 
If  thou  diest,  it  is  because  thou  wouldst  not  come 
to  him  for  life. 

Now  accept  of  an  offered  Christ,  and  thou  art 
made  for  ever ;  now  give  thy  consent  to  him,  and 
the  match  is  made ;  all  the  world  cannot  hinder  it. 
Do  not  stand  off  because  of  thy  unworthiness.  I 
tell  thee,  nothing  can  undo  thee  but  thine  own  un- 
willingness. Speak,  man ;  art  thou  desirous  of  the 
honor  ?  Wilt  thou  have  Christ  in  all  his  relations 
to  be  thine,  thy  king,  thy  priest,  thy  prophet  ?  Wilt 
thou  have  him  and  bear  his  cross  ?  Take  not  Christ 
without  consideration,  but  sit  down  first  and  count 
the  cost.  Wilt  thou  lay  all  at  his  feet  ?  Wilt  thou 
be  content  to  run  all  hazards  with  him  ?  Wilt  thou 
take  thy  lot  with  him,  fall  where  it  will  ?  Wilt  thou 
"deny  thyself,  take  up  thy  cross,  and  follow  him?" 
Art  thou  deliberately,  understandingly,  freely  de- 
termined to  cleave  to  him  in  all  times  and  conditions  ? 
If  so,  thou  shalt  never  perish,  but  art  passed  from 
death  unto  life.  Here  lies  the  main  point  of  thy 
salvation,  that  thou  be  found  in  thy  covenant-closure 
with  Jesus  Christ ;  and  therefore,  if  thou  love  thy- 
self, see  that  thou  be  faithful  to  God  and  thy  soul 
here. 

Direction  VIII.  Resign  all  thy  powers  and  facul- 
ties, and  thy  whole  interest  to  be  his. 

"They  gave  their  own  selves  unto  the  Lord." 
"  Present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice."     The  Lord 


148  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

seeks  not  yours,  but  you ;  resign  therefore  thy  body, 
with  all  its  members,  to  him ;  and  thy  soul,  with  all 
its  powers,  that  he  may  be  glorified  in  thy  body  and 
in  thy  spirit,  which  are  his. 

In  a  right  closing  with  Christ  all  thy  faculties  are 
given  up  to  him.  Thy  judgment  says,  "  Lord,  thou 
art  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  chief  of  ten  thousand : 
happy  is  the  man  that  findeth  thee.  All  the  things 
that  are  to  be  desired  are  not  to  be  compared  with 
thee."  Prov.  3  :  13-15.  The  understanding  lays 
aside  its  corrupt  reasonings  and  cavils,  and  its  prej- 
udices against  Christ  and  his  ways.  It  is  now  past 
questioning,  and  determines  for  Christ  against  all 
the  world.  It  concludes  it  is  "  good  to  be  here," 
and  sees  such  a  treasure  in  this  field,  such  a  value 
in  this  pearl,  as  is  worth  all.  Matt.  13  :  44-46. 
"  0  here  is  the  richest  prize  that  ever  man  was 
offered;  here  is  the  most  sovereign  remedy  that 
ever  ^mercy  prepared ;  he  is  worthy  of  my  esteem, 
worthy  of  my  choice,  worthy  of  my  love,  worthy  to 
be  embraced,  adored,  admired,  for  evermore.  Rev. 
5  :  12.  I  approve  of  his  articles:  his  terms  are 
righteous  and  reasonable,  full  of  equity  and  mercy." 
Again,  the  will  resigns.  It  stands  no  longer  waver- 
ing, but  is  peremptorily  determined :  "  Lord,  thy 
love  hath  overcome  me,  thou  hast  won  me,  and  thou 
shalt  have  me.  Come  in.  Lord ;  to  thee  I  freely 
open ;  I  consent  to  be  saved  in  thine  own  way. 
Thou  shalt  have  any  thing — nay,  have  all,  let  me 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  149 

have  but  thee."  The  memory  gives  up  to  Christ : 
"  Lord,  here  is  a  storehouse  for  thee ;  out  with  this 
trash ;  lay  in  the  treasure ;  let  me  be  a  repository 
of  thy  truth,  thy  promises,  thy  providences."  The 
conscience  comes  in :  "  Lord,  I  will  ever  side  with 
thee ;  I  will  be  thy  faithful  registrar ;  I  will  warn 
when  the  sinner  is  tempted,  and  smite  when  thou 
art  offended  ;  I  will  witness  for  thee,  and  judge  for 
thee,  and  guide  into  thy  ways,  and  will  never  let 
sin  have  quiet  in  this  soul."  The  affections  also 
come  in  to  Christ :  "  0,"  saith  Love,  "  I  am  sick  for 
thee."  "0,"  saith  Desire,  "now  I  have  what  I 
sought  for ;  here  is  the  Desire  of  nations ;  here  is 
bread  for  me,  and  balm  for  me :  all  that  I  want." 
Fear  bows  the  knee  with  awe  and  veneration : 
"  "Welcome,  Lord,  to  thee  will  I  pay  my  homage ; 
thy  word  and  rod  shall  command  my  motions  ;  thee 
will  I  reverence  and  adore ;  before  thee  will  I  fall 
doAvn  and  worship."  Grief  likewise  puts  in :  "Lord, 
thy  displeasure  and  thy  dishonor,  thy  people's  ca- 
lamities and  my  own  iniquities,  shall  be  what  shall 
set  me  a  weeping.  I  will  mourn  when*  thou  art 
offended ;  I  will  weep  when  thy  cause  is  wounded." 
Anger  likewise  comes  in  for  Christ :  "  Lord,  nothing 
so  enrages  me  as  my  folly  against  thee,  that  I  should 
be  so  besotted  as  to  hearken  to  the  flatteries  of  sin 
and  the  temptations  of  Satan  against  thee."  Hatred, 
too,  will  side  with  Christ :  "  I  protest  mortal  enmity 
to  thine  enemies,  that  I  never  will  be  a  friend  to  thy 


150  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

foes ;  I  vow  an  eternal  quarrel  with  every  sin :  I 
will  give  no  quarter ;  I  will  make  no  peace."  Thus 
let  all  thy  powers  yield  to  Jesus  Christ. 

Again,  thou  must  give  up  thy  whole  interest  -to 
him.  If  there  be  any  thing  that  thou  keepest  back 
from  Christ,  it  will  be  thy  undoing.  Luke  14  :  33. 
Unless  thou  wilt  forsake  all,  in  preparation  and 
resolution  of  thy  heart,  thou  canst  not  be  his  dis- 
ciple. Thou  must  hate  father  and  mother,  yea, 
and  thine  own  life  also,  in  comparison  with  Him, 
and  as  far  as  it  stands  in  competition  with  him.  In 
a  word,  thou  must  give  him  thyself,  and  all  that 
thou  hast,  without  reservation,  or  else  thou  canst 
have  no  part  in  him. 

DiRKCTioN  IX.  Make  choice  of  the  laws  of 
Christ  as  the  rule  of  thy  words,  thoughts,  and 
actions. 

This  is  the  true  convert's  choice.  But  here  re- 
member these  three  rules :  1.  You  must  choose 
them  all,  there  is  no  getting  to  heaven  by  a  partial 
obedience.  None  may  think  it  enough  to  take  up 
with  the  -cheap  and  easy  part  of  religion,  and  let 
alone  the  duties  that  *  are  costly  and  self-denying, 
and  oppose  the  interests  of  the  flesh ;  you  must 
take  all  or  none.  A  sincere  convert,  though  he 
makes  most  conscience  of  the  greatest  sins  and 
weightiest  duties,  yet  he  makes  true  conscience  of 
little  sins  and  of  all  duties.  2.  You  must  choose 
Christ's  laws  for  all  times,  for  prosperity  and  ad- 


DIBECnONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  151 

versity.  A  true  convert  is  resolved  in  bis  course ; 
he  will  stand  to  his  choice,  and  will  not  set  his  back 
to  the  wind,  and  be  of  the  religion  of  the  times. 
"I  have  stuck  to  thy  testimonies;  I  have  inclined 
my  heart  to  perform  thy  statutes  always,  even  to 
the  end.  Thy  testimonies  have  I  taken  as  a  heritage 
for  ever.  I  will  have  respect  to  thy  statutes  con- 
tinually." 3.  This  must  be  done  deliberately  and 
understandingly.  The  disobedient  son  said,  "  I  go, 
sir  ;  but  he  went  not."  How  fairly  did  they  promise, 
"  All  that  the  Lord  our  God  shall  speak  unto  thee 
we  will  do  it !"  And  it  is  likely  they  spake  as  they 
meant.  But  Avhen  it  came  to  the  trial  it  was  found 
that  there  was  not  such  a  heart  in  them  as  to  do 
what  they  had  promised. 

If  you  would  be  sincere  in  closing  with  the  laws 
and  the  ways  of  Christ,  study  the  meaning,  and 
breadth,  and  extent  of  them.  Remember  that  they 
are  spiritual ;  they  reach  the  very  thoughts  and  in- 
clinations of  the  heart ;  so  that,  if  you  will  walk  by 
this  rule,  your  very  thoughts  and  inward  motions 
must  be  under  government.  Again,  they  are  very 
strict  and  self-denying,  quite  contrary  to  your  natu- 
ral inclinations.  .  You  must  take  the  strait  gate,  the 
narrow  way,  and  be  content  to  have  the  flesh  curbed 
from  the  liberty  it  desires.  In  a  word,  they  are 
very  large,  for  "  thy  commandments  are  exceeding 
broad." 

Rest  not  in  generals,  for  there  is  much  deceit  in 


153  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

them,  but  bring  down  thine  heart  to  the  particular 
commands  of  Christ.  Those  Jews,  in  the  prophet, 
seemed  as  Avell  resolved  as  any  in  the  world,  and 
called  God  to  witness  that  they  meant  as  they  said : 
but  they  rested  in  generals ;  when  God's  command 
crosses  their  inclination,  they  will  not  obey.  Art 
thou  resolved,  in  the  strength  of  Christ,  to  set  upon 
the  conscientious  practice  of  every  duty  that  thou 
findest  to  be  required  of  thee,  and  to  set  against 
every  sin  that  thou  findest  to  be  forbidden  ?  This 
is  the  way  to  be  sound  in  God's  statutes,  that  thou 
mayest  never  be  ashamed. 

Observe  the  special  duties  that  thy  heart  is  most 
against,  and  the  special  sins  that  it  is  most  inclined 
to,  and  see  whether  it  be  truly  resolved  to  perform 
the  one  and  forego  the  other.  What  sayest  thou  to 
thy  bosom  sin,  thy  gainful  sin  ?  What  sayest  thou 
to  costly,  hazardous,  and  flesh-displeasing  duties? 
If  thou  haltest  here,  and  dost  not  resolve,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  to  cross  the  flesh  and  be  in  earnest, 
thou  art  unsound. 

Direction  X.  Let  all  this  be  completed  in  a 
solemn  covenant  between  God  and  thy  soul.* 

Set  apart  some  time,  more  than  once,  to  be  spent 
in  secret  before  the  Lord — in  seeking  earnestly  his 
special  assistance  and  gracious  acceptance  of  thee— 
in  searching  thy  heart,  whether  thou  art  sincerely 
willing  to  forsake  all  thy  sins,  and  to  resign  thyself, 
body  and  soul,  unto  God  and  his  service ;  to  serve 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  153 

him  in  holiness  and  righteousness  all  the  days  of 
thy  life. 

Compose  thy  spirit  into  the  most  serious  frame 
possible,  suitable  to  a  transaction  of  so  high  im- 
portance. Lay  hold  on  the  covenant  of  God,  and 
rely  on  his  promise  of  giving  grace  and  strength, 
whereby  thou  mayest  be  enabled  to  perform  thy 
promise.  Trust  not  to  thine  own  strength,  to  the 
strength  of  thine  own  resolutions  ;  but  take  hold  on 
his  strength. 

Being  thus  prepared,  on  some  convenient  time 
set  apart  for  the  purpose,  enter  upon  the  work,  and 
solemnly,  as  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  fall  down 
on  thy  knees,  and  open  thy  heart  to  him  in  words 
like  those  of  the  covenant,  or  soliloquy,  annexed  to 
these  directions. 

Direction  XL  Take  heed  of  delaying  thy  con- 
version, but  make  a  speedy,  an  immediate  surrender 
of  thy  heart  to  God. 

"I  made  haste,  and  delayed  not."  Remember 
and  tremble  at  the  sad  instance  of  the  foolish  vir- 
gins, that  came  not  till  the  "  door  of  mercy  was 
shut ;"  and  of  a  convinced  Felix,  who  put  off  Paul 
to  another  season ;  and  we  never  find  that  he  had 
such  another  season.  O  come  in  while  it  is  called 
to-day,  lest  thou  shouldst  be  hardened  through  the 
deceitfulness  of  sin ;  lest  the  day  of  grace  should  be 
over,  and  the  things  which  belong  to  thy  peace 
should  be  "hidden  from  thine  eyes."     Now  mercy 


154  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

is  wooing  thee ;  now  Christ  is  waiting  to  be  gracious 
to  thee,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  is  striving  with  thee ; 
now  ministers  are  calling ;  now  conscience  is  stirring ; 
now  Christ  is  to  be  had,  if  accepted.  0  strike  in 
with  the  offers  of  grace  ;  now  or  never.  If  thou 
make  light  of  this  offer,  God  may  swear  in  his  wrath, 
thou  shalt  not  taste  of  his  supper. 

Direction  XII.  Attend  conscientiously  upon  the 
word,  as  the  means  appointed  for  thy  conversion. 

Attend,  I  say,  not  customarily,  but  conscien- 
tiously ;  with  this  desire,  design,  hope,  and  expecta- 
tion, that  thou  mayest  be  converted  by  it.  To  every 
sermon  thou  hearest  come  with  this  thought :  "  0 
I  hope  God  will  now  come  in  ;  I  hope  this  day  may 
be  the  time,  this  may  be  the  man  by  whom  God 
will  brincf  me  home."  When  thou  art  cominor  to 
the  privileges  of  God's  house,  lift  up  thy  heart  thus 
to  God :  "  Lord,  let  this  be  the  Sabbath,  let  this  be 
the  season  wherein  I  may  receive  renewing  grace. 
0  let  it  be  said  that  this  day  such  a  one  was  born 
unto  thee." 

Objection.  Thou  wilt  say,  I  have  been  long  a 
hearer  of  the  word,  and  yet  it  hath  not  been  effect- 
ual to  my  conversion.  Answer.  Yea ;  but  thou 
hast  not.  attended  upon  it  in  this  manner,  as  a 
means  of  thy  conversion,  nor  Avith  this  design,  nor 
praying  for  and  expecting  the  happy  effect  from  it. 

Direction  XIII.  Strike  in  Avith  the  Spirit  when 
he  begins  to  work  upon  thy  heart. 


DIHECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  155 

When  he  works  convictions,  0  do  not  stifle  them, 
but  join  in  with  him,  and  beg  the  Lord  to  give  you 
saving  conversion.  "  Quench  not  the  Spirit ;"  do 
not  reject  him,  do  not  resist  him.  Beware  of  stifling 
convictions  with  evil  company  or  worldly  business. 
When  thou  art  in  anguish  on  account  of  sin  and 
fears  about  thy  eternal  state,  beg  of  God  that  you 
may  have  peace  only  in  thoroughly  renouncing  all 
sin,  loathing  it  in  thy  inmost  soul,  and  giving  thy 
whole  heart,  without  reserve,  to  Christ.  Say  to 
him,  "  Strike  home,  Lord  ;  leave  not  the  work  in  the 
midst.  0  go  to  the  bottom  of  my  corruption,  and 
let  out  the  life-blood  of  my* sins."  Thus  yield  up 
thyself  to  the  working  of  the  Spirit,  and  hoist  thy 
sails  to  his  gusts. 

Direction  XIV.  Set  upon  the  constant  and  dili- 
gent use  of  serious  and  fervent  prayer. 

He  that  neglects  prayer  is  a  profane  and  unsanc- 
tified  sinner.  He  that  is  not  constant  in  prayer  is 
but  a  hypocrite,  unless  the  omission  be  contrary  to 
his  ordinary  course,  under  the  force  of  some  instant 
temptation.  This  is  one  of  the  first  things  conver- 
sion appears  in,  that  it  sets  men  a  praying.  There- 
fore set  to  this  duty  ;  let  not  one  day  pass  over  thee 
wherein  thou  hast  not,  morning  and  evening,  set 
apart  some  time  for  solemn  prayer  in  secret.  Call 
thy  family  also  together  daily  and  duly  to  worship 
God  with  thee.  Woe  be  unto  thee,  if  thou  be  found 
among  the  families  that  call  not  upon  God's  name. 


156  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

But  cold  and  lifeless  devotions  will  not  reach  half 
way  to  heaven.  Be  fervent  and  importunate.  Im- 
portunity will  carry  it;  but  without  violence  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  will  not  be  taken.  Thou  must 
strive  to  enter,  and  wrestle  with  tears  and  supplica- 
tions, as  Jacob,  if  thou  wouldst  gain  the  blessing. 
Thou  art  undone  for  ever  without  grace,  and  there- 
fore thou  must  set  to  it,  and  resolve  to  take  no 
denial.  That  man  who  is  fixed  in  this  resolution 
says,  "Well,  I  must  have  grace,  or  I  will  never 
give  over  till  I  have  grace  ;  I  will  never  cease 
earnestly  pleading,  and  striving  with  God  and  my 
own  heart,  till  he  doth  renew  me  by  the  power  of 
his  grace." 

Direction  XV.  Forsake  thy  evil  company,  and 
forbear  the  occasions  of  sin. 

Thou  wilt  never  be  turned  from  sin  till  thou  wilt 
decline  and  forego  the  temptations  of  sin.  I  never 
expect  thy  conversion  from  sin,  unless  thou  art 
brought  to  some  self-denial,  so  as  to  flee  the  occa- 
sions. If  thou  wilt  be  nibbling  at  the  bait,  and 
playing  on  the  brink,  and  tampering  with  the  snare, 
thy  soul  will  surely  be  taken.  Where  God  doth 
expose  men,  in  his  providence,  unavoidably  to  temp- 
tation, and  the  occasions  are  such  as  we  cannot  re- 
move, we  may  expect  special  assistance  in  the  use 
of  his  meaiis  ;  but  when  we  tempt  God  by  running 
into  danger,  he  will  not  engage  to  support  us  when 
we  are  tempted.     And,  of  all  temptations,  one  of 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  157 

the  most  fatal  and  pernicious  is  evil  companions.  0 
what  hopeful  beginnings  have  these  often  stifled! 
0  the  souls,  the  estates,  the  families,  the  towns,  that 
these  have  ruined !  How  many  poor  sinners  have 
been  enlightened  and  convinced,  and  been  just  ready- 
to  escape  the  snare  of  the  devil,  and  have  even 
escaped  it;  and  yet  wicked  company  has  pulled 
them  back  at  last,  and  made  them  seven-fold  more 
the  children  of  hell !  In  a  word,  I  have  no  hopes 
of  thee,  except  thou  wilt  shake  off  thy  evil  com- 
pany. Thy  life  depends  upon  it :  forsake  this,  or 
thou  canst  not  live.  Wilt  thou  be  worse  than  the 
ass  of  Balaam,  to  run  on  when  thou  seest  the  Lord 
with  a  drawn  sword  in  the  way  ?  Let  this  sentence 
be  written  in  capitals  upon  thy  conscience :  "  A  com- 
panion OF  FOOLS  SHALL  BE  DESTROYED."      The  Lord 

hath  spoken  it,  and  who  shall  reverse  it  ? 

And  wilt  thou  run  upon  destruction,  when  God 
himself  doth  forewarn  thee?  If  God  doth  ever 
change  thy  heart,  it  will  appear  in  the  change  of 
thy  company.  O  fear  and  flee  the  gulf  by  which 
%o  many  thousand  souls  have  been  swallowed  up  in 
perdition.  It  will  be  hard  for  thee  indeed  to  make 
thy  escape.  Thy  companions  will  be  mocking  thee 
out  of  thy  religion,  and  will  study  to  fill  thee  with 
prejudices  against  strictness,  as  ridiculous  and  com- 
fortless. They  will  be  flattering  thee  and  alluring 
thee ;  but  remember  the  warnings  of  the  Holy 
Ghost:  "My  son,  if  sinners  entice  thee,  consent 


158  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

thou  not.  If  they  say,  Come  with  us,  cast  in  thy 
lot  among  us  ;  walk  thou  not  in  the  way  with  them, 
refrain  thy  foot  from  their  path  ;  avoid  it,  pass  not 
by  it,  turn  from  it,  and  pass  away.  For  the  way 
of  the  wicked  is  as  darkness,  they  know  not  at  what 
they  stumble.  They  lie  in  wait  for  their  own  blood, 
they  lurk  privily  for  their  own  lives."  My  soul  is 
moved  within  me  to  see  how  many  of  my  hearers 
and  readers  are  likely  to  perish,  both  they  and  their 
houses,  by  this  wretched  mischief,  even  the  haunting 
of  such  places  and  company,  whereby  they  are 
drawn  into  sin.  Once  more  I  admonish  you,  as 
Moses  did  Israel :  "  Depart,  I  pray  you,  from  the 
tents  of  these  wicked  men."  0  fly  them  as  you 
would  those  that  had  the  plague-sores  running  in 
their  foreheads.  These  are  the  devil's  panders  and 
decoys ;  and  if  thou  dost  not  make  thy  escape  they 
will  draw  thee  into  perdition,  and  will  prove  thy 
eternal  ruin. 

Direction  XVI.  Set  apart  a  day  to  humble  thy 
soul  in  secret  by  fasting  and  prayer,  to  work  a  sense 
of  thy  sins  and  miseries  upon  thy  heart.  Read 
some  faithful  exposition  of  the  decalogue,  and 
write  down  the  duties  omitted  and  sins  committed 
by  thee  against  every  commandment,  and  so  make 
a  catalogue  of  thy  sins,  and  with  shame  and  sorrow 
spread  them  before  the  Lord ;  and  if  thy  heart  be 
truly  Avilling,  join  thyself  to  the  Lord  in  a  solemn 
covenant,  like  that  hereto  annexed. 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  159 

A    SHORT   SOLILOQUY. 

What  meanest  tliou,  0  my  soul,  to  go  on  thus  ; 
art  thou  in  league  with  hell ;  hast  thou  made  a 
covenant  with  death ;  art  thou  in  love  with  thy 
misery  ?  "  Is  it  good  for  thee  to  be  here  ?"  Alas, 
what  shall  I  do  ;  shall  I  go  on  in  my  sinful  ways  ? 
Then  certain  damnation  will  be  my  end.  And  shall 
I  be  so  besotted  as  to  go  and  sell  my  soul  to  the 
flames  for  a  little  ale  and  a  little  ease  ;  for  a  little 
pleasure,  or  gain,  or  satisfaction  to  my  flesh  ?  Shall 
I  linger  any  longer  in  this  wretched  state  ?  No ; 
if  I  tarry  here  I  die.  "What  then  ?  Is  there  no 
help,  no  hope  ?  None,  except  I  turn.  But  is  there 
any  remedy  for  such  woful  misery ;  any  mercy,  after 
such  provoking  iniquity  ?  Yes,  as  sure  as  God's 
oath  is  true,  I  shall  have  pardon  and  mercy  yet,  if 
immediately,  and  unfeignedly,  and  unreservedly,  I 
turn  by  Christ  to  him. 

I  thank  thee  upon  the  bended  knees  of  my  soul, 
0  most  merciful  Jehovah,  that  thy  patience  hath 
waited  for  me  hitherto ;  for,  hadst  thou  taken  me 
away  in  this  state,  I  had  perished  for  ever.  And 
now  I  adore  thy  grace,  and  accept  the  off"ers  of  thy 
mercy ;  I  renounce  all  my  sins,  and  resolve  by  thy 
grace  to  set  myself  against  them,  and  to  follow  thee 
in  holiness  and  righteousness  all  the  days  of  my  life. 

Who  am  I,  Lord,  that  I  should  make  any  claim 
unto  thee,  or  have  any  part  or  portion  in  thee? 


160  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

Yet,  since  thou  boldest  forth  the  golden  sceptre,  I 
am  bold  to  come  and  touch.  To  despair,  would  be 
to  disparage  thy  mercy ;  and  to  stand  off  when  thou 
biddest  me  come,  would  be  at  once  to  ruin  myself 
and  rebel  against  thee,  under  the  pretence  of  hu- 
mility. Therefore  I  bow  my  soul  to  thee,  and  with 
all  possible  thankfulness  accept  thee  as  mine,  and 
give  up  myself  to  thee  as  thine.  Thou  shalt  be 
Sovereign  over  me,  "my  King  and  my  God  :"  thou 
shalt  be  on  the  throne,  and  all  my  poAvers  shall  bow 
to  thee;  they  shall  come  and  worship  before  thy 
feet.  Thou  shalt  be  my  portion,  0  Lord,  and  I  will 
rest  in  thee. 

Thou  callest  for  my  heart.  0  that  it  were  any 
way  fit  for  thine  acceptance.  I  am  unworthy,  0 
Lord,  everlastingly  unworthy  to  be  thine ;  but  since 
thou  wilt  have  it  so,  I  freely  give  up  my  heart  to 
thee :  take  it ;  it  is  thine  :  0  that  it  were  better. 
But,  Lord,  I  put  it  into  thine  hand,  who  alone  canst 
mend  it :  mould  it  after  thine  own  heart ;  make  it 
as  thou  wouldst  have  it,  holy,  humble,  heavenly, 
soft,  tender,  flexible  ;  and  write  thy  law  upon  it. 

"Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly;"  enter  in  tri- 
umphantly :  take  me  up  to  thee  for  ever :  I  give  up 
myself  to  thee  ;  I  come  to  thee  as  the  only  way  to  the 
Father,  as  the  only  Mediator,  the  means  ordained  to 
bring  me  to  God,  I  have  destroyed  myself,  but  in 
thee  is  my  help ;  "  save.  Lord,  or  I  perish."  I  come 
to  thee  worthy  to  die  and  to  be  damned.     Never 


DIRECTIONS  TO  THE  UNCONVERTED.  161 

was  the  hire  more  due  to  the  servant,  never  was 
penny  more  due  to  the  laborer,  than  death  and  hell, 
my  just  wages,  are  due  to  me  for  my  sins.  But  I 
flee  to  thy  merits  ;  I  trust  alone  to  the  value  and 
virtue  of  thy  sacrifice,  and  the  prevalence  of  thy  in- 
tercession. I  submit  to  thy  teaching ;  I  make  choice 
of  thy  government.  "  Stand  open,  ye  everlasting 
doors,  that  the  King  of  glory  may  come  in." 

0  thou  Spirit  of  the  Most  High,  the  comforter 
and  sanctifier  of  thy  chosen,  come  in  with  all  thy 
glorious  train,  all  thy  courtly  attendants,  thy  fruits 
and  graces ;  let  me  be  thine  habitation ;  I  can  give 
thee  only  what  is  thine  own  already ;  but  here,  with 
the  poor  widow,  I  cast  my  two  mites,  my  soul  and 
my  body,  into  thy  treasury,  fully  resigning  them  up 
to  thee,  to  be  sanctified  by  thee,  to  be  servants  to 
thee.  They  shall  be  thy  patients ;  cure  thou  their 
malady.  They  shall  be  thy  subjects  ;  govern  thou 
their  motions.  Too  long  have  I  served  the  world ; 
too  long  have  I  hearkened  to  Satan ;  but  now  I  re- 
nounce them  all,  and  will  be  ruled  by  thy  dictates 
and  directions,  and  guided  by  thy  counsel. " 

0  blessed  Trinity  :  0  glorious  Unity  !  I  dehver 
up  myself  to  thee  :  receive  me  ;  write  thy  name,  0 
Lord,  upon  me,  and  upon  all  that  I  have,  as  thy 
property ;  set  thy  mark  upon  me,  upon  every  mem- 
ber of  my  body,  and  on  every  faculty  of  my  soul. 
I  have  chosen  thy  precepts  ;  thy  laAV  will  I  keep  in 
mine  eye,  and  study  to  obey  it.     According  to  this 

AUeiiic>iAUnn.  1 1 


162  ALLEINK'S  ALAR»L 

rule  do  I  resolve,  through  thy  grace,  to  walk ;  after 
this  law  shall  my  whole  man  be  governed;  and 
though  I  shall  not  perfectly  keep  one  of  thy  com- 
mandments, yet  I  will  allow  myself  in  the  breach 
of  none.  I  know  my  flesh  will  hang  back ;  but  I 
resolve,  in  the  power  of  thy  grace,  to  cleave  to  thee 
and  thy  holy  ways,  whatever  it  costs  me.  I  am 
sure  I  cannot  come  off  a  loser  by  thee,  and  there- 
fore I  will  be  content  with  reproach,  and  difficulties, 
and  hardships  here ;  and  will  "  deny  myself,  and 
take  up  my  cross,  and  follow  thee."  Lord  Jesus, 
thy  yoke  is  easy,  thy  cross  is  welcome :  as  it  is  the 
way  to  thee,  I  lay  aside  all  hopes  of  worldly  happi- 
ness ;  I  will  be  content  to  tarry  till  I  come  to  thee. 
Let  me  be  poor,  and  low,  and  despised  here,  so  I 
may  but  be  admitted  to  live  and  reign  with  thee 
hereafter.  Lord,  thou  hast  my  heart  and  hand  to 
this  agreement :  be  it  as  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and 
Persians,  never  to  be  reversed.  To  this  will  I  stand ; 
in  this  resolution,  through  grace,  I  will  live  and  die ; 
"  I  have  sworn,"  and  will  perform  it,  that  "  I  will 
keep  thy  righteous  judgments ;"  I  have  given  my 
free  consent ;  I  have  made  my  everlasting  choice : 
Lord  Jesus,  confirm  the  contract.     Amen. 


THE  MOTIVES  TO  CONVERSION.  163 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   MOTIVES    TO    CONVERSION. 

Though  what  is  already  said  of  the  "necessity  of 
conversion,"  and  of  the  "miseries  of  the  uncon- 
verted," might  be  sufficient  to  induce  any  consid- 
erate mind  to  resolve  upon  a  present  turning  unto 
God ;  yet,  knowing  what  a  piece  of  desperate  obsti- 
nacy and  untractableness  the  heart  of  man  naturally 
is,  I  have  thought  it  necessary  to  add,  to  the  means 
of  conversion  and  directions  for  a  covenant  closure 
with  God  and  Christ,  some  motives  to  persuade  you 
to  be  reconciled  to  God. 

Lord,  fail  me  not  now,  at  my  last  attempts.  If 
any  soul  hath  read  hitherto,  and  is  yet  untouched, 
now,  Lord,  fasten  on  him,  and  do  thy  work ;  now 
take  him  by  the  heart,  overcome  him,  persuade 
him,  till  he  say,  Thou  hast  prevailed,  for  thou  art 
stronger  than  I.  Lord,  didst  not  thou  make  me  a 
fisher  of  men,  and  have  I  toiled  all  this  while  and 
caught  nothing?  Alas,  that  I  should  have  spent 
my  strength  for  naught !  and  now  I  am  casting  my 
last;  Lord  Jesus,  stand  thou  upon  the  shore,  and 
direct  how  and  where  I  shall  spread  my  net ;  and 
let  me  so  enclose  with  arguments  the  souls  I  seek, 
that  they  may  not  be  able  to  get  out.  Now,  Lord, 
for  a  multitude  of  souls ;  now  for  a  full  draught.    0 


164  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

Lord  God,  remember  me,  I  pray  thee,  and  strengthen 
me  this  once,  0  God. 

But  I  turn  me  unto  you. 

Men  and  brethren,  heaven  and  earth  call  upon 
you ;  yea,  hell  itself  preaches  the  doctrine  of  re- 
pentance unto  you.  The  ministers  of  the  churches 
labor  for  you.  The  angels  of  heaven  wait  for  you, 
for  your  repenting  and  turning  xmto  God.  0  sinner, 
why  should  devils  laugh  at  thy  destruction,  and 
deride  thy  misery,  and  sport  themselves  with  thy 
folly  ?  This  will  be  thy  case,  except  thou  turn. 
And  were  it  not  better  thou  shouldst  be  a  joy  to 
angels,  than  a  laughing-stock  and  sport  for  de^dls  ? 
Verily,  if  thou  wouldst  but  come  in,  the  heavenly 
hosts  would  take  up  their  anthems  and  sing,  "  Glory 
to  God  in  the  highest ;"  the  morning  stars  would 
sing  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shout  for 
joy,  and  celebrate  this  new  creation  as  they  did  the 
first.  Thy  repentance  would,  as  it  were,  make  a 
holiday  in  heaven,  and  the  glorious  spirits  would 
rejoice,  in  that  there  is  a  new  brother  added  to  their 
society,  another  heir  born  to  the  Lord,  and  the  lost 
son  received  safe  and  sound.  The  true  penitent's 
>-tears  are  indeed  the  wine  that  maketh  glad  both  God 
and  man. 

If  it  be  little  that  men  and  angels  would  rejoice 
at  thy  conversion,  know  thou  that  God  himself 
would  "rejoice  over  thee,  even  with  singing,"  and 
"  rest  in  his  love."     Never  did  Jacob  with  such  joy 


THE  MOTIVES  TO  CONVERSION.  165 

weep  over  the  neck  of  his  Joseph,  as  thy  heavenly 
Father  would  rejoice  over  thee  upon  thy  coming  to 
him.  Look  over  the  story  of  the  Prodigal  Son. 
Methinks  I  see  how  the  aged  father  lays  aside  his 
state  and  forgetteth  his  years  ;  behold,  how  he  run- 
neth !  0  the  haste  that  mercy  makes :  the  sinner 
makes  not  half  that  speed.  Methinks  I  see  how  his 
bowels  move,  how  his  compassions  yearn.  How 
quick- sighted  is  love !  Mercy  spies  him  a  great 
way  oflf ; .  forgets  his  riotous  courses,  unnatural  re- 
bellion, horrid  unthankfulness — not  a  word  of  these 
— and  receives  him  with  open  arms,  clasps  him  about 
his  neck,  kisses  him ;  calls  for  the  fatted  calf,  the 
best  robe,  the  ring,  the  shoes,  the  best  cheer  in 
heaven's  store,  the  best  attire  in  heaven's  wardrobe. 
Yea,  the  joy  cannot  be  held  in  his  own  breast. 
Others  must  be  called  to  participate.  The  friends 
sympathize  ;  but  none  knows  the  joy  the  father  has 
in  his  new-bom  son,  whom  he  hath  received  from 
the  dead.  Methinks  I  hear  the  music  at  a  distance. 
O  the  melody  of  the  heavenly  choristers !  I  cannot 
learn  the  song.  Rev.  14  :  3,  but  methinks  I  overhear 
the  burden,  at  which  all  the  harmonious  choir  with 
one  consent  strike  sweetly  in:  "For  this  my  son 
was  dead,  and  is  alive  again ;  he  was  lost,  and  is 
found."  I  need  not  farther  explain  the  parable : 
God  is  the  father :  Christ  is  the  provision ;  his 
righteousness  the  robe ;  his  grace  the  ornaments ; 
ministers,  saints,  and  angels,  the  friends  and  ser- 


166  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

vants  ;  and  thou  that  readest,  if  thou  wilt  but  un- 
feignedly  repent  and  turn,  the  welcome  prodigal,  the 
happy  instance  of  this  grace,  the  blessed  subject 
of  this  joy  and  love. 

0  rock  ;  0  adamant !  What,  not  moved  yet ;  not 
yet  resolved  to  turn  forthwith  and  to  close  with 
mercy?  I  will  try  thee  yet  once  again.  If  one 
were  sent  to  thee  from  the  dead,  wouldst  thou  be 
persuaded?  Why,  hear  the  voice  from  the  dead, 
from  the  damned,  crying  to  thee  that  thou  shouldst 
repent :  "I  pray  thee  that  thou  wouldst  send  him 
to  my  father's  house ;  for  I  have  five  brethren ;  that 
he  may  testify  to  them,  lest  they  also  come  into  this 
place  of  torment :  if  one  went  to  them  from  the 
dead,  they  will  repent."  Hear,  0  man ;  thy  pre- 
decessors in  impenitence  preach  to  thee  from  the 
infernal  flames,  that  thou  shouldst  repent.  0  look 
down  into  the  bottomless  pit ;  seest  thou  how  the 
smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  for  ever  and  ever  ? 
What  thinkest  thou  of  those  chains  of  darkness? 
Canst  thou  be  content  to  burn  ?  Seest  thou  how 
the  worm  gnaweth,  how  the  fire  rageth?  What 
sayest  thou  to  that  gulf  of  perdition ;  wilt  thou  take 
up  thine  habitation  there  ?  O  lay  thine  ear  to  the 
door  of  hell :  hearest  thou  the  curses  and  blasphe- 
mies, the  weepings  and  wailings,  how  they  lament 
their  follies  and  curse  their  day?  How  do  they 
roar  and  gnash  their  teeth  ;  how  deep  their  groans  ; 
how  inconceivable  their  miseries  !     If  the  shrieks  of 


THE  MOTIVES  TO  CONVERSION.  167 

Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram,  were  so  terrible,  when 
the  earth  clave  asunder,  and  opened  its  mouth  and 
swallowed  them  up,  and  all  that  appertained  to 
them,  that  all  Israel  fled  at  the  cry  of  them,  0  how 
fearful  would  the  cry  be,  if  God  should  take  off"  the 
covering  from  the  mouth  of  hell,  and  let  the  cry  of 
the  damned  ascend  in  all  its  terror  among  the  chil- 
dren of  men !  And  of  all  their  moans  and  miseries 
this  is  the  piercing,  killing  emphasis  and  burden, 
"  For  ever ;  for  ever !" 

As  God  liveth  that  made  thy  soul,  thou  art  but 
a  few  hours  distant  from  all  this,  except  thou  "re- 
pent and  be  converted." 

0,  I  am  even  lost  and  swallowed  up  in  the  abun- 
dance of  those  arguments  that  I  might  suggest. 
If  there  be  any  point  of  wisdom  in  all  the  world,  it 
is  to  repent  and  come  in".  If  there  be  any  thing 
righteous,  any  thing  reasonable,  this  is  it.  If  there 
be  any  thing  that  may  be  called  madness  and  folly, 
and  any  thing  that  may  be  counted  sottish,  absurd, 
brutish,  and  unreasonable,  it  is  this,  "  to  go  on  in 
thine  unconverted  state."  Let  me  beg  of  thee,  as 
thou  wouldst  not  willingly  destroy  thyself,  sit  down 
and  weigh,  besides  what  has  been  said,  these  follow- 
ing motives,  and  let  conscience  say  if  it  be  not  most 
reasonable  that  thou  shouldst  "  repent  and  turn." 

1.  The  God  that  made  thee,  most  graciously  in- 
vites thee.  His  most  sweet  and  merciful  nature  in- 
vites thee.     0  the  kindness  of  God,  his  boimdless 


168  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

compassion,  his  tender  mercies !  As  the  heavens 
are  higher  than  the  earth,  so  are  his  ways  above 
our  ways,  and  his  thoughts  above  our  thoughts. 
"  He  is  full  of  compassion,  and  gracious,  long-suffer- 
ing, and  plenteous  in  mercy."  This  is  a  great  argu- 
ment to  persuade  sinners  to  come  in :  "  Turn  unto 
the  Lord  your  God ;  for  he  is  gracious  and  merciful, 
slow  to  anger,  of  great  kindness,  and  repenteth  hira 
of  the  evil." 

If  God»would  not  repent  of  the  evil,  it  would  be 
some  discouragement  to  our  repenting.  If  there . 
were  no  hope  of  mercy,  it  would  be  no  wonder  that 
rebels  should  stand  out ;  but  never  had  subjects 
such  a  gracious  prince,  such  pity,  patience,  and 
clemency  to  deal  with,  as  you  have.  "  Who  is  a 
God  like  unto  thee,'  that  pardoneth  iniquity  ?" 
Micah  7:18.  0  sinners,  see  what  a  God  you  have 
to  deal  with :  if  you  will  but  turn,  **  he  will  turn 
again,  and  have  compassion  on  you ;  he  will  subdue 
your  iniquities,  and  cast  all  your  sins  into  the  depths 
of  the  sea."  "Return  unto  me,  saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts,  and  I  will  return  unto  you."  Sinners  do  not 
fail  in  that  they  have  too  high  thoughts  of  God's 
mercies,  but  in  that,  1.  They  overlook  his  justice. 
2.  They  promise  themselves  mercy  out  of  God's 
way.  His  mercies  are  beyond  all  imagination ; 
great  mercies,  manifold  mercies,  Neh.  9:19,  tender 
mercies,  sure  mercies,  everlasting  mercies ;  and  all 
is  thy  own,  if  thou  wilt  but  turn.     Art  thou  willing 


THE  MOTIVES  TO  CONVERSION.  169 

to  come  in  ?  The  Lord  hath  laid  aside  his  terror 
and  erected  a  throne  of  grace.  He  holds  forth  the 
golden  sceptre  :  touch  and  live.  Would  a  merciful 
man  slay  his  enemy  vrhen  prostrate  at  his  feet, 
acknowledging  his  wrong,  begging  pardon,  and 
offering  to  enter  with  him  into  a  covenant  of  peace  ? 
Much  less  will  the  merciful  God.  Study  his  name. 
Exodus  34:7.  "  Keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  for- 
giving iniquity  and  transgression  and  sin."  Also 
read  experience,  Neh.  9  :  1*7. 

His  soul- encouraging  calls  and  promises  invite 
thee.  Ah,  what  an  earnest  suitor  is  mercy  to  thee ; 
how  lovingly,  how  instantly,  it  calleth  after  thee ; 
how  earnestly  it  wooeth  thee !  "  Return,  thou 
backsliding  Israel,  saith  the  Lord,  and  I  will  not 
cause  my  anger  to  fall  upon  you ;  for  I  am  merciful, 
saith  the  Lord,  and  I  will  not  keep  anger  for  ever ; 
only  acknowledge  thine  iniquity.  Turn,  0  back- 
sliding children,  saith  the  Lord ;  return,  and  I  will 
heal  thy  backslidings.  Thou  hast  played  the  harlot 
with  many  lovers ;  yet  return  unto  me,  saith  the 
Lord."  "  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  God,  I  have  no 
pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked,  but  that  he 
turn  from  his  way  and  live.  Turn  ye,  turn  ye  from 
your  evil  ways ;  for  why  will  ye  die,  0  house  of 
Israel?"  "  If  the  wicked  will  turn  from  all  his  sins 
that  he  hath  committed,  and  keep  all  my  statutes, 
and  do  that  which  is  lawful  and  right,  he  shall 
surely  live,  he  shall  not  die.     All  the  transgressions 


170  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

that  he  hath  committed,  they  shall  not  be  mentioned 
unto  him ;  in  his  righteousness  that  he  hath  done, 
he  shall  live.  Repent,  and  turn  you  from  all  your 
transgressions ;  so  iniquity  shall  not  be  your  ruin. 
Cast  away  from  you  all  your  transgressions,  and 
make  you  a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit ;  for  why 
will  ye  die,  0  house  of  Israel  ?  For  I  have  no  pleasure 
in  the  death  of  him  that  dieth,  saith  the  Lord  God : 
wherefore  turn  yourselves,  and  live  ye." 

0  melting,  gracious  words :  the  voice  of  God,  and 
not  of  a  man  !  This  is  not  the  manner  of  men,  for 
the  offended  sovereign  to  sue  to  the  oflFending 
traitorous  rebel.  O  how  doth  mercy  follow  thee, 
and  plead  with  thee !  Is  not  thy  heart  broken  yet  ? 
0  that  "  to-day  you  would  hear  his  voice." 

2.  The  doors  of  heaven  are  thrown  open  to  thee, 
the  everlasting  gates  are  set  wide  for  thee,  and  an 
abundant  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
administered  to  thee. 

Christ  now  addresses  tliee,  and  calls  upon  thee 
to  arise  and  take  possession  of  this  good  land. 
View  the  glory  of  the  other  world,  as  set  forth  in 
the  map  of  the  Gospel ;  get  thee  up  into  the  Pisgah 
of  the  promises,  and  lift  up  thine  eyes  northward, 
and  southward,  and  eastward,  and  westward,  and 
see  the  good  land  that  is  beyond  Jordan,  and  that 
goodly  mountain ;  behold  the  Paradise  of  God, 
watered  •  with  the  streams  of  glory.  Arise  and 
walk  through  the  land,  in  the  length  of  it,  and  in 


THE  MOTIVES  TO  CONVERSION.  171 

the  breadth  of  it;  for  the  land  which  thou  seest, 
the  Lord  will  give  it  to  thee  for  ever,  if  thou  wilt 
but  return.  Let  me  say  to  thee,  as  Paul  to  Agrippa, 
"  Believest  thou  the  prophets  ?"  If  thou  believest 
indeed,  do  but  view  what  glorious  things  are  spoken 
of  the  city  of  God,  and  know  that  all  this  is  here 
tendered  in  the  name  of  God  to  thee.  As  verily  as 
God  is  true,  it  shall  be  for  ever  thine,  if  thou  wilt 
but  thoroughly  turn. 

Behold  the  city  of  pure  transparent  gold,  whose 
foundations  are  garnished  with  all  manner  of  precious 
stones,  whose  gates  are  pearls,  whose  light  is  glory, 
whose  temple  is  God.  Believest  thou  this?  If 
thou  dost,  art  thou  not  beside  thyself,  that  wilt  not 
take  possession  when  the  gates  are  thrown  open  to 
thee,  and  thou  art  bid  to  enter  ?  0  ye  sons  of  folly, 
will  ye  embrace  the  dunghill  and  refuse  the  king- 
dom? Behold,  the  Lord  takes  you  up  into  the 
mountain,  shows  you  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  all 
the  glory  thereof,  and  tells  you,  All  this  will  I  give 
you,  if  you  will  but  return  unto  me ;  if  you  will 
submit  to  mercy,  accept  my  Son,  and  serve  me  in 
righteousness  and  holiness.  "  0  fools,  and  slow  of 
heart  to  believe!"  Will  you  seek  and  serve  the 
world,  and  neglect  eternal  glory  ?  What,  not  enter 
into  Paradise  when  the  flaming  sword,  which  was 
once  set  to  keep  you  out,  is  now  used  to  drive  you 
in  ?  But  you  will  say  I  am  uncharitable,  to  think 
you  infidels  and  unbelievers.     What,  then,  shall  I 


173  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

think  of  you  ?  Either  you  are  desperate  unbehevers, 
that  do  not  credit  it ;  or  beside  yourselves,  that  you 
know  and  beheve  the  excellence  and  eternity  of  this 
glory,  and  yet  do  so  fearfully  neglect  it. 

Do  but  attend  to  what  is  offered  you:  a  blessed 
kingdom,  a  "kingdom  of  glory,"  a  "kingdom  of 
righteousness,"  a  "  kmgdom  of  peace,"  and  an 
"  everlasting  kingdom."  Here  thou  shalt  dwell, 
here  thou  shalt  reign  for  ever,  and  the  Lord  shall 
seat  thee  on  a  throne  of  glory,  and  with  his  own 
hand  shall  set  the  royal  diadem  upon  thine  head, 
and  give  thee  a  crown — not  of  thorns,  for  there  shall 
be  no  sinning  nor  suffering  there ;  not  of  gold,  for 
this  shall  be  viler  than  the  dirt  in  that  day ;  but  a 
"crown  of  life,"  a  "crown  of  righteousness,"  a 
"crown  of  glory,"  yea,  "thou  shalt  put  on  glory 
as  a  robe,"  and  shalt  "shine  like  the  sun  in  the 
firmament,  in  the  glory  of  thy  Father,"  Look  now 
upon  thy  worthless  flesh.  This  flesh,  which  is  mere 
dust  and  ashes,  shall  be  brighter  than  the  stars.  In 
short,  thou  shalt  be  made  like  unto  the  "  angels  of 
God,"  and  "  behold  his  face  in  righteousness."  Look 
in  now  and  tell  me,  Dost  thou  yet  believe  ?  if  not, 
conscience  must  pronounce  thee  an  infidel ;  for  it  is 
the  very  "  word  of  God"  that  I  speak. 

But  if  thou  sayest  thou  believest,  let  me  next 
know  thy  resolution.  Wilt  thou  embrace  this  for 
thy  happiness  ?  Wilt  thou  forego  thy  sinful  gains, 
thy  forbidden  pleasures  ?    Wilt  thou  trample  on  the 


THE  MOTIVES  TO  CONVERSION.  173 

world's  esteem,  and  stop  thy  ears  to  its  flatteries, 
and  wrest  thee  out  of  its  embraces  ?  Wilt  thou  be 
content  to  take  up  with  reproach  and  poverty,  if 
they  lie  in  the  way  to  heaven,  and  follow  the  Lord 
with  humble  self-denial,  in  a  mortified  and  flesh- 
displeasing  life  ?    If  so,  all  is  thine,  and  that  for  ever. 

And  is  not  the  ofi'er  a  fair  one  ?  Is  it  not  just 
that  he  should  be  damned  that  will  go  on  and  perish, 
when  all  this  may  be  had  by  taking  it  ?  "Wilt  thou 
take  God  at  his  word  ;  wilt  thou  let  go  thy  hold  of 
the  world,  and  rid  thy  hands  of  thy  sins,  and  lay 
hold  on  eternal  life?  If  not,  let  conscience  tell 
thee  whether  thou  art  not  beside  thyself,  that  thou 
shouldst  neglect  so  happy  a  choice,  by  which  thou 
mightest  be  made  happy  for  ever. 

3.  God  will  settle  unspeakable  privileges  at  present 
upon  thee."  Though  the  full  of  your  blessedness 
shall  be  reserved  till  hereafter,  yet  God  will  give 
you  no  httle  things  in  hand.  He  will  redeem  you 
from  your  thraldom.  He  will  pluck  you  from  the 
paw  of  the  lion.  The  serpent  shall  bruise  thy  heel, 
but  thou  shalt  bruise  his  head.  He  shall  deliver 
you  from  this  present  evil  world.  Prosperity  shall 
not  destroy  you ;  adversity  shall  not  separate  him 
and  you.  He  will  redeem  you  from  the  power  of 
the  grave,  and  make  the  king  of  terrors  a  messenger 
of  peace  to  you.  He  will  take  out  the  curse  from 
the  cross,  and  make  affliction  the  refining-pot,  the 
fan,  the  medicine,  to  blow  off"  the  chaffs,  purify  the 


174  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

metal,  and  cleanse  the  mind.  He  will  save  you 
from  the  arrest  of  the  law,  and  turn  the  curse  into 
a  blessing  to  you.  He  hath  the  keys  of  hell  and  of 
death,  and  shutteth  and  no  man  openeth,  and  he 
will  shut  its  mouth,  as  once  he  did  the  lions',  that 
you  shall  not  be  hurt  of  the  second  death. 

Besides,  he  will  not  only  save  you  from  misery, 
but  install  you  into  unspeakable  prerogatives.  He 
will  bestow  himself  upon  you ;  he  will  be  a  friend 
and  a  father  unto  you.  He  will  be  a  sun  and  a 
shield  to  you.  In  a  word,  he  will  be  a  God  to  you. 
And  what  can  be  said  more  ?  What  may  you  ex- 
pect that  a  God  should  do  for  you,  and  be  to  you  ? 
That  he  will  be,  that  he  will  do.  She  that  marries 
a  prince  expects  he  should  do  for  her  like  a  prince, 
that  she  may  Uve  in  suitable  state,  and  have  an 
answerable  dowry :  he  that  hath  a  king  for  his 
father  or  a  friend,  expects  he  should  do  for  him 
like  a  king.  Alas,  the  kings  and  monarchs  of  the 
earth,  so  much  above  you,  are  but  like  the  painted 
butterflies  amongst  the  rest  of  their  kind,  or  the 
fair  colored  palmer- worm  amongst  the  rest  of  the 
worms,  if  compared  with  God.  As  he  infinitely 
exceeds  the  glory  and  power  of  his  glittering  dust, 
so  he  will,  beyond  all  proportion,  exceed  in  doing 
for  his  favorites  whatever  princes  can  do  for  theirs. 
He  will  "  give  you  grace  and  glory,  and  withhold 
no  good  thing  from  you."  He  will  take  you  for  his 
sons  and  daughters,  and   make  you  heirs  of  his 


THE  MOTIVES  TO  CONVERSION.  175 

promises,  and  establish  his  everlasting  covenant  with 
you.  He  will  justify  you  from  all  that  law,  con- 
science, and  Satan  can  charge  upon  you.  He  will 
give  you  free  access  into  his  presence,  and  accept 
your  person,  and  receive  your  prayers.  He  will 
abide  in  you,  and  hold  a  constant  and  friendly  com- 
munion with  you.  His  ear  shall  be  open,  his  door 
open,  his  store  open,  at  all  times  to  you.  His  bless- 
ing shall  rest  upon  you,  and  he  will  make  your  ene- 
mies to  serve  you,  and  work  out  "  all  things  for  good 
unto  you." 

4.  The  terms  of  mercy  are  brought  as  low  as  pos- 
sible to  you.  God  has  stooped  as  low  to  sinners  as 
with  honor  he  can.  He  will  not  be  the  author  of 
sin,  nor  stain  the  glory  of  his  holiness :  and  how 
could  he  come  lower  than  he  has,  unless  he  should 
do  this? 

God  does  not  impose  any  thing  unreasonable  or 
impossible,  as  a  condition  of  life,  upon  you.  Two 
things  were  necessary  to  be  done,  according  to  the 
tenor  of  the  first  covenant.  1.  That  we  should 
fully  satisfy  the  demands  of  justice  for  past  offences. 
2.  That  we  should  perform  personally,  perfectly, 
and  perpetually,  the  whole  law  for  the  time  to 
come.  By  our  sins  we  render  salvation  through 
either  of  these  ways  impossible.  But  behold  God's 
gracious  provision  in  both.  He  does  not  insist  upon 
satisfaction :  he  is  content  to  take  of  the  Surety, 
and  he  of  his  own  providing  too,  what  he  might 


176  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

have  exacted  from  you.  "  All  things  are  of  God, 
who  hath  reconciled  us  to  himself  by  Jesus  Christ, 
and  hath  given  to  us  the  ministry  of  reconciliation : 
to  wit,  that  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world 
unto  himself,  not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto 
them ;  and  hath  committed  unto  us  the  word  of 
reconciUation."  He  declares  himself  to  have  re- 
ceived a  ransom ;  and  that  he  expects  nothing  but 
that  you  should  accept  his  Son,  "  who  of  God  is 
made  unto  us  wisdom,  and  righteousness,  and  sanc- 
tification,  and  redemption ;"  and  he  shall  be  right- 
eousness and  redemption  to  you,  "  who  his  own 
self  bare  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,  that 
we,  being  dead  to  sin,  should  live  unto  righteous- 
ness." If  you  come  in  Christ,  and  set  your  heart 
to  please  him,  making  this  your  chief  concern,  he 
will  graciously  accept  you. 

O  consider  the  condescension  of  your  God ;  let 
me  say  to  you,  as  Naaman's  servant  to  him,  "  My 
father,  if  the  prophet  had  bid  thee  do  some  great 
thing,  Avouldst  thou  not  have  done  it  ?  How  much 
rather  when  he  saith  to  thee,  Wash  and  be  clean !" 
If  God  had  demanded  some  terrible,  some  severe 
and  rigorous  thing  of  you,  to  escape  eternal  damna- 
tion, would  you  not  have  done  it  ?  Suppose  it  had 
been  to  spend  all  your  days  in  sorrow  in  some  howl- 
ing wilderness,  or  pine  with  famine,  would  you  not 
have  thankfully  accepted  eternal  redemption,  though 
these  had  been  the  conditions  ?    Nay,  farther,  if  God 


THE  MOTIVES  TO  CONVERSION.  177 

had  told  you  that  you  should  burn  in  the  fire  for 
millions  of  ages,  or  be  so  long  tormented  in  hell, 
would  you  not  have  accepted  it  ?  Alas,  all  these 
are  not  so  much  as  one  grain  of  sand  in  the  glass 
of  eternity.  If  your  offended  Creator  should  have 
holden  you  but  one  year  upon  the  rack,  and  then 
bidden  you  come  and  forsake  your  sins,  accept 
Christ,  and  serve  him  a  few  years  in  self-denial, 
or  lie  in  this  case  for  ever  and  ever  ;  do  you  think 
you  should  have  hesitated  at  the  offer,  and  disputed 
the  terms,  and  have  been  unresolved  whether  you 
were  to  accept  of  the  proposal  ?  0  sinner,  return 
and  live ;  why  shouldst  thou  die  when  life  is  to  be 
had  for  taking,  when  mercy  entreats  thee  to  be 
saved?  Couldst  thou  say,  "Lord,  I  knew  thee, 
that  thou  wast  a  hard  man,"  even  then  thou  wouldst 
have  had  no  excuse ;  but  when  the  God  of  heaven 
has  stooped  so  low,  and  condescended  so  far,  if  still 
thou  stand  oflF,  who  shall  plead  for  thee  ? 

Objection.  Notwithstanding  all  the  advantages  of 
the  new  covenant,  I  am  unable  to  repent  and  be- 
lieve, and  so  comply  with  itg  conditions. 

Answer.  These  you  may  perform  by  God's  grace 
enabling ;  but  let  the  next  consideration  serve  for  a 
fuller  answer. 

6.  God  doth  offer  all  needed  grace  to  enable  you. 
"  I  have  stretched  out  mine  hand,  and  no  man  re- 
garded." What  though  you  are  plunged  into  the 
ditch  of  that  misery  from  which  you  can  never  get 

AlUinc't  Alarm.  X  2 


178  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

out  ?  Christ  offereth  to  help  you  out ;  he  reacheth 
out  his  hand  to  you ;  and  if  you  perish,  it  is  for 
refusing  his  help.  "  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and 
knock;  if  any  man  open  to  me,  I  will  come  in." 
What  though  you  are  poor,  and  wretched,  and  blind, 
and  naked  ?  Christ  oflFereth  a  cure  for  your  blind- 
ness, a  covering  for  your  nakedness,  riches  for  your 
poverty ;  he  tenders  you  his  righteousness,  his 
grace :  "  I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  me  gold,  that 
thou  mayest  be  rich  ;  and  white  raiment,  that  thou 
mayest  be  clothed ;  and  anoint  thy  eyes  with  eye- 
salve,  that  thou  mayest  see."  Do  you  say.  The 
condition  is  impossible ;  for  I  have  not  wherewith 
to  buy?  You  must  know  that  this  buying  is 
"  without  money  and  without  price."  This  buying 
is  by  begging  and  seeking  with  your  whole  heart. 
God  commandeth  thee  to  know  him,  and  to  fear  him. 
Dost  thou  say.  Yea,  but  my  mind  is  blinded,  and  my 
heart  is  hardened  from  his  fear?  I  answer,  God 
doth  offer  to  enlighten  thy  mind,  and  to  teach  thee 
his  fear.  So  that  now,  if  men  live  in  ignorance  and 
estrangement  from  the  Lord,  it  is  because  they  will 
not  understand  and  desire  the  knowledge  of  his 
ways.  "If  thou  criest  after  knowledge,  if  thou 
seekest  her  as  silver,  then  shalt  thou  understand 
the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  find  the  knowledge  of 
God."  Is  not  here  a  fair  offer  ?  "  Turn  ye  at  my 
reproof;  behold,  I  will  pour  out  my  Spirit  unto 
you."     Though  of  yourselves  you  can  do  nothing. 


CONCLUSION.  ITQ 

yet  you  may  do  all  through  his  Spirit  enabling  you, 
and  he  offers  assistance  to  you.  God  bids  you 
"  wash  and  make  you  clean."  You  say  you  are 
unable,  as  much  as  the  leopard  to  wash  out  his 
spots.  Yea,  but  the  Lord  doth  offer  to  cleanse  you ; 
so  that  if  you  are  filthy  still,  it  is  through  your  own 
wilfulness  ;  "  I  have  purged  thee,  and  thou  wast  not 
purged."  "  0  Jerusalem,  wilt  thou  not  be  made 
clean  ?  When  shall  it  once  be  ?"  God  invites  you 
to  be  made  clean,  and  entreats  you  to  yield  to  him. 
0  accept  his  offers,  and  let  him  do  for  you,  and  in 
you,  what  you  cannot  do  for  yourselves. 


CONCLUSION. 


And  now,  beloved,  let  me  know  your  mind ;  what 
do  you  intend  to  do  ?  Will  you  go  on  and  die,  or 
will  you  turn  and  lay  hold  on  eternal  hfe  ?  How 
long  will  ye  linger  in  Sodom  ?  "  Hoav  long  will  ye 
halt  between  two  opinions  ?"  Have  you  not  yet 
resolved  Avhether  Christ  or  Barabbas,  whether  bliss 
or  torment,  whether  this  vain  and  wretched  world, 
or  the  paradise  of  God,  be  the  better  choice  ?  Is  it 
a  disputable  case  whether  the  Abana  and  Pharpar 
of  Damascus  be  better  than  all  the  streams  of  Eden ; 
or  whether  the  vile  pool  of  sin  is  to  be  preferred 
before  the  water  of  life,  clear  as  crystal,  proceeding 


180  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

out  of  tlie  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  ?  Can 
the  world  in  good  earnest  do  that  for  you  which 
Christ  can  ?  Will  it  stand  by  you  to  eternity  ?  Will 
pleasures,  lands,  titles,  and  treasures  descend  with 
you  ?  If  not,  had  you  not  need  look  after  some- 
thing that  will  ?  What  mean  you  to  stand  waver- 
ing ?  Shall  I  leave  you  at  last,  like  Agrippa,  only 
almost  persuaded?  You  are  for  ever  lost  if  left 
here ;  as  good  be  not  at  all,  as  not  altogether  a 
Christian.  How  long  will  you  rest  in  idle  wishes 
and  fruitless  purposes  ?  When  will  you  come  to  a 
fixed,  firm,  and  full  resolve  ?  Do  not  you  see  how- 
Satan  cheats  you  by  tempting  you  to  delays  ? 
How  long  hath  he  drawn  you  on  in  the  way  of  per- 
dition ? 

Well,  put  me  not  oflf  with  a  dilatory  answer ;  tell 
me  not  of  hereafter^  I  must  have  your  immediate 
consent.  If  you  be  not  now  resolved,  while  the 
Lord  is  treating  with  you  and  inviting  you,  much 
less  are  you  like  to  be  hereafter,  when  these  im- 
pressions are  worn  off,  and  you  are  hardened  through 
the  deceitfulness  of  sin.  Will  you  give  me  your 
hand  ?  •  Will  you  set  open  the  door  and  give  the 
Lord  Jesus  the  full  and  ready  possession?  Will 
you  put  your  name  unto  his  covenant  ?  What  do 
you  resolve  upon  ?  If  you  still  delay,  my  labor  is 
lost,  and  all  is  likely  to  come  to  nothing.  Come, 
cast  in  your  lot ;  make  your  choice.  "  Now  is  the 
accepted  time ;  now  is  the  day  of  salvation :  to-day, 


CONCLUSION.  181 

if  you  ■will  hear  his  voice."  Why  should  not  this 
be  the  day  whence  thou  shouldst  be  able  to  date 
thy  happiness  ?  Why  shouldst  thou  venture  a  day 
longer  in  this  dangerous  and  dreadful  condition? 
What  if  God  should  this  night  require  thy  soul  ? 
"  0  that  thou  mightest  know  in  this  thy  day  the 
things  that  belong  to  thy  peace,  before  they  be  hid 
from  thine  eyes !"  This  is  thy  day,  and  it  is  but  a 
day.  Others  have  had  their  day,  and  have  received 
their  doom ;  and  now  art  thou  brought  upon  the 
stage  of  this  world,  here  to  act  thy  part  for  thy 
eternity.  Remember,  thou  art  now  upon  thy  good 
behavior  for  everlasting ;  if  thou  make  not  a  wise 
choice  now,  thou  art  undone  for  ever.  What  thy 
present  choice  is,  such  must  be  thine  eternal  con^ 
dition. 

And  is  it  true  indeed  ?  Are  life  and  death  at  thy 
choice  ?  Why,  then,  what  hinders  but  that  thou 
shouldst  be  happy  ?  Nothing  doth  or  can  hinder 
but  thine  own  wilful  neglect  or  refusal.  It  was  the 
saying  of  the  eunuch  to  Philip,  "See,  here  is  water; 
what  doth  hinder  me  to  be  baptized?"  So  I  may 
say  to  thee.  See,  here  is  Christ,  here  is  mercy,  par^ 
don,  life;  what  hinders  but  that  thou  shouldst  be 
pardoned  and  saved  ?  One  of  the  martyrs,  as  he 
was  praying  at  the  stake,  had  his  pardon  set  by  him 
in  a  box,  which  indeed  he  rightly  refused,  because 
upon  unworthy  terms  ;  but  here  the  terms  are  most 
honorable  and   easy.     0  sinner,  wilt  thou  perish 


182  m  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

with  tliy  pardon  by  thee  ?  Do  but  forthwith  give 
thy  consent  to  Christ,  to  renounce  thy  sins,  deny 
thyself,  take  up  the  yoke  and  the  cross,  and  thou 
earnest  the  day :  Christ  is  thine ;  pardon,  peace, 
life,  blessedness,  are  all  thine.  And  is  not  this  an 
offer  worth  embracing  ?  Why  shouldst  thou  hesi- 
tate or  doubtfully  dispute  about  the  case  ?  Is  it 
not  past  controversy  whether  God  be  better  than 
sin,  and  glory  than  vanity?  Why  shouldst  thou 
forsake  thy  own  mercy,  and  sin  against  thy  own 
life  ?  When  wilt  thou  shake  off  thy  sloth,  and  lay 
by  thine  excuses  ?  "  Boast  not  thyself  of  to-mor- 
row, thou  knowest  not"  where  this  night  may  lodge 
thee. 

Now  the  Holy  Spirit  is  strivirlg  with  you — he  will 
not  always  strive.  Hast  thou  not  felt  thine  heart 
warmed  by  the  word,  and  been  almost  persuaded  to 
leave  off  thy  sins  and  come  to  Christ  ?  Hast  thau 
not  felt  some  motions  in  thy  mind,  wherein  thou 
hast  been  warned  of  thy  danger,  and  told  what  thy 
careless  course  would  end  in?  It  may  be  thou  art 
like  young  Samuel,  who,  when  the  Lord  called  once 
and  again,  knew  not  the  voice  of  the  Lord ;  but 
these  motions  are  the  offers,  and  callings,  and  striv- 
ings of  the  Spirit.  0  take  advantage  of  the  tide, 
and  know  the  day  of  thy  visitation. 

Now  the  Lord  Jesus  stretcheth  wide  his  anns  to 
receive  you ;  he  beseecheth  you  by  us.  How  mov- 
ingly, how  meltingly,  how  compassionately  he  call- 


CONCLUSION.  183 

eth.  The  church  is  put  into  a  sudden  ecstasy  at 
the  sound  of  his  voice,  "the  voice  of  my  beloved." 
0  wilt  thou  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  his  voice  ?  Is  it  not 
the  voice  that  breaketh  the  cedars,  and  maketh  the 
mountains  to  skip  like  a  calf ;  that  shaketh  the  wil- 
derness, and  divideth  the  flames  of  fire  ?  It  is  not 
Sinai's  thunder,  but  a  soft  and  still  voice.  It  is  not 
the  voice  of  Mount  Ebal,  a  voice  of  cursing  and  ter- 
ror, but  the  voice  of  Mount  Gerizira,  the  voice  of 
blessing  and  glad  tidings  of  good  things.  It  is  not 
the  voice  of  the  trumpet  nor  the  noise  of  war,  but  a 
message  of  peace  from  the  King  of  peace.  I  may 
say  to  thee,  0  sinner,  as  Martha  to  her  sister,  "  The 
Master  is  come,  and  he  calleth  for  thee,"  Now 
then,  with  Mary,  arise  quickly  and  come  unto  him. 
How  sweet  are  his  invitations'!  He  crieth  in  the 
open  concourse,  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come 
unto  me  and  drink."  How  bountiful  is  he !  He 
excludeth  none.  "  Whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the 
water  of  life  freely."  "  Come,  eat  of  my  bread, 
and  drink  of  the  wine  that  I  have  mingled.  For- 
sake the  foolish  and  live."  "  Come  unto  me,  take 
my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me,  and  ye  shall 
find  rest  to  your  souls."  "  Him  that  cometh  unto 
me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  How  doth  he  be- 
moan the  obstinate  refuser !  "  0  Jerusalem,  Jeru- 
salem, how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children, 
as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings, 
and  ye  would  not!"     "Behold  me,  behold  me:  I 


184  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

have  stretched  out  my  hands  all  the  day  to  a  rehel- 
lious  people."  0  be  persuaded  now  at  last  to  throw 
yourselves  into  the  arras  of  his  love. 

Behold,  0  ye  sons  of  men,  the  Lord  Jesus  hath 
thrown  open  the  prison,  and  now  he  cometh  to  you 
by  his  ministers,  and  beseecheth  you  to  come  out. 
If  it  were  from  a  palace  or  paradise  that  Christ  did 
call  you,  it  were  no  wonder  that  you  were  unwilling ; 
and  yet  how  easily  was  Adam  beguiled  thence ;  but 
it  is  from  your  prison,  from  your  chains,  from  the 
dungeon,  from  the  darkness,  that  he  calleth  you, 
and  yet  will  you  not  come  ?  He  calls  you  unto 
liberty,  and  yet  will  you  not  hearken  ?  His  yoke  is 
easy,  his  laws  are  liberty,  his  service  is  freedom,  and, 
whatever  prejudice  you  may  have  against  his  ways, 
if  God  may  be  believed,  you  shall  find  them  all 
pleasure  and  peace,  and  shall  taste  sweetness  and 
joy  unutterable,  and  take  infinite  delight  and  felicity 
in  them. 

Beloved,  I  am  loath  to  leave  you ;  I  cannot  tell 
how  to  give  you  over.  I  am  now  ready  to  close, 
but  I  would  see  a  covenant  made  between  Christ 
and  you  before  I  end.  What,  shall  I  leave  you  at 
last  as  I  found  you  ?  Have  you  read  hitherto,  and 
not  yet  resolved  to  abandon  all  your  sins  and  to 
close  with  Jesus  Christ?  Alas,  what  shall  I  say; 
what  shall  I  do  ?  Will  you  turn  off  all  my  impor- 
tunity?    Have  I  run  in  vain?     Have  I  used  so 


CONCLUSION.  185 

many  arguments,  and  spent  so  much  time  to  per- 
suade you,  and  must  I  sit  down  at  last  in  disap- 
pointment ?  But  it  is  a  small  matter  that  you  turn 
me  off;  you  put  a  slight  upon  the  God  that  made 
you ;  you  reject  the  compassion  and  beseechings  of 
a  Saviour,  and  will  be  found  resisters  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  if  you  will  not  now  be  prevailed  upon  to 
repent  and  be  converted. 

Well,  though  I  have  called  you  long,  and  you 
have  refused,  I  shall  yet  this  once  more  lift  up  my 
voice  like  a  trumpet,  and  cry  from  the  highest 
places  of  the  city  before  I  conclude,  with  the  miser- 
able exclamation,  "  All  is  over !"  Once  more  I  shall 
call  after  regardless  sinners,  that,  if  it  be  possible,  I 
may  awaken  them  :  "  0  earth,  earth,  earth,  hear  the 
word  of  the  Lord."  Unless  you  be  resolved  to  die, 
lend  your  ears  to  the  last  calls  of  mercy.  Behold, 
in  the  name  of  God,  I  make  open  proclamation  unto 
you :  "  Hearken  unto  me,  0  ye  children ;  hear  in- 
struction and  be  wise,  and  refuse  it  not." 

"  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the 
waters ;  and  he  that  hath  no  money,  come  ye,  buy 
and  eat ;  yea,  come,  buy  wine  and  milk,  without 
money  and  without  price.  Wherefore  do  ye  spend 
your  money  for  that  which  is  not  bread,  and  your 
labor  for  that  which  satisfieth  not  ?  Hearken  dili- 
gently unto  me,  and  eat  ye  that  which  is  good,  and 
let  your  soul  delight  itself  in  fatness.  Incline  your 
ear  and  come  unto  me;  hear,  and  your  soul  shall 


186  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

live ;  and  I  "will  make  an  everlasting  covenant 
with  you,  even  the  sure  mercies  of  David."  Isa. 
65 :  1-3. 

Ho,  every  one  that  is  sick  of  any  manner  of  dis- 
ease or  torment,  or  is  possessed  with  an  evil  spirit, 
whether  of  pride,  fury,  lust,  or  covetousness,  come 
ye  to  the  Physician ;  bring  your  sick ;  lo,  here  is  he 
that  healeth  all  manner  of  sicknesses,  and  all  man- 
ner of  diseases,  among  the  people.    Matt.  4  :  23,  24. 

Ho,  every  one  that  is  in  distress,  gather  yourselves 
unto  Christ,  and  he  will  become  a  Captain  over  you. 
He  will  be  your  protection  from  the  arrests  of  the 
law ;  he  will  save  you  from  the  hand  of  justice. 
Behold,  he  is  an  open  sanctuary  to  you ;  he  is  a 
known  refuge.  Away  with  your  sins  and  come  in 
unto  him,  lest  the  avenger  of  blood  seize  you,  lest 
devouring  wrath  overtake  you. 

Ho,  every  blind  and  ignorant  sinner,  come  and 
buy  eye-salve,  that  thou  mayest  see.  Away  with 
thy  excuses ;  thou  art  for  ever  lost  if  thou  continue 
in  this  state.  But  accept  of  Christ  for  thy  Prophet, 
and  he  will  be  a  light  unto  thee.  Cry  unto  him  for 
knowledge,  study  his  word,  take  pains  about  re- 
ligion, humble  thyself  before  God,  and  he  will  teach 
thee  his  way,  and  make  thee  wise  unto  salvation. 
But  if  thou  wilt  not  follow  him,  but  sit  down  be- 
cause thou  hast  but  one  talent,  he  will  condemn 
thee  for  a  wicked  and  slothful  servant.  Matthew 
25  :  24-26. 


CONCLUSION.  187 

Ho,  eveiy  profane  sinner,  come  in  and  live.  Re- 
turn unto  the  Lord,  and  he  will  have  mercy  on  thee ; 
be  entreated.  0  return,  come.  Thou  that  hast  filled 
thy  mouth  "with  oaths  and  execrations,  all  manner 
of  sins  and  blasphemies  shall  be  forgiven  thee,  if 
thou  wilt  but  thoroughly  turn  unto  Christ  and  come 
in.  0  unclean  sinner,  put  away  thy  whoredoms  out 
of  thy  sight,  and  thy  adulteries  from  between  thy 
breasts,  and  give  up  thyself  unto  Christ,  as  a  vessel 
of  holiness,  alone  for  his  use ;  and  then,  "  Though 
thy  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  white  as  snow ; 
and  though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be 
as  wool."     Luke  7  :  4Y  ;  Isa,  1:18;  4:7. 

Hear,  O  ye  drunkards,  how  long  will  ye  be 
drunken  ?  Put  away  your  wine.  Though  you  have 
rolled  in  the  filthiness  of  your  sin,  give  up  your- 
selves unto  Christ,  to  live  soberly,  righteously,  and 
godly ;  embrace  his  righteousness ;  accept  his  gov- 
ernment ;  and  though  you  have  been  vile,  he  will 
wash  you.     Rev.  1:5. 

Hear,  0  ye  loose  companions,  whose  delight  is  in 
vain  and  wicked  society,  to  sport  away  your  time  in 
carnal  mirth ;  come  in  at  Wisdom's  call,  and  choose 
her  and  her  ways,  and  you  shall  live.    Prov.  9 :  5,  6. 

Hear,  0  ye  scorners,  hear  the  word  of  the  Lord, 
Though  you  make  a  sport  at  godliness  and  the  pro- 
fessors thereof,  though  you  have  made  a  scorn  of 
Christ  and  of  his  ways,  yet  even  to  you  doth  he 
call,  to  gather  you  xinder  the  wings  of  his  mercy. 


188  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

In  a  word,  though  you  should  be  found  among  the 
worst  of  that  black  roll,  1  Cor.  6:10,  yet  upon  your 
thorough  convei-sion  you  shall  be  "  washed,  you 
shall  be  justified,  you  shall  be  sanctified  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God." 

Ho,  every  formal  professor,  thou  art  but  a  luke- 
warm Christian,  and  restest  in  the  form  of  godliness. 
Give  over  thy  halting ;  be  throughout  a  Christian, 
and  be  zealous  and  repent ;  and  then,  though  thou 
hast  been  an  offence  to  Christ,  thou  shalt  be  the  joy 
of  his  heart.     Rev.  3  :  16-20. 

And  now  bear  witness  that  mercy  hath  been 
offered  you.  "I  call  heaven  and  earth  to  record 
against  you  this  day,  that  I  have  set  before  you  life 
and  death,  blessing  and  cursing ;  therefore  choose 
life,  that  you  may  live."  I  can  but  entreat  and  warn 
you ;  I  cannot  otherwise  compel  you  to  be  happy ; 
if  I  could,  I  would.  What  answer  will  you  sond 
me  with  to  my  Master  ?  Let  me  speak  to  you  as 
Abraham's  sei-vant  to  Nahor's  family,  "  And  now  if 
you  will  deal  kindly  and  truly  with  my  master,  tell 
me."  0  for  such  a  happy  answer  as  Rebecca  gave 
them:  "And  they  said.  We  will  call  the  damsel, 
and  inquire  at  her  mouth.  And  they  called  Re- 
becca, and  said  unto  her.  Wilt  thou  go  with  this 
man?  and  she  said,  I  will  go."  0  that  I  had  but 
this  from  you.  Why  should  I  be  your  accuser,  who 
agonize  for  your  salvation  ?  Why  should  the  pas- 
sionate pleadings  of  mercy  be  turned  into  horrid  ag- 


CONCLUSION.  189 

gravations  of  your  obstinacy  and  additions  to  your 
misery  ?  Judge  in  yourselves ;  do  you  not  think 
their  condemnation  will  be  doubly  dreadful,  that 
shall  still  go  on  in  their  sins,  after  all  endeavors  to 
recall  them  ?  Doubtless  "  it  shall  be  more  tolerable 
for  Tyre  and  Sidon,  yea,  for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
in  the  day  of  judgment,  than  for  you !"  Matthew 
11  :  22,  24. 

Beloved,  if  you  have  any  pity  for  your  perishing 
souls,  close  with  the  present  offers  of  mercy.  If  the 
God  that  made  you  have  any  authority  with  you, 
obey  his  command  and  come  in.  If  you  are  not 
the  despisers  of  grace,  and  would  not  shut  the 
doors  of  mercy  against  yourselves,  repent  and  be 
converted ;  let  not  heaven  stand  open  for  you  in 
vain ;  let  not  the  Lord  Jesus  open  his  stores,  and 
bid  you  buy  without  money  and  without  price  in 
vain ;  let  not  his  Spirit  and  his  ministers  strive  with 
you  in  vain,  and  leave  you  now  at  last  unpersuaded, 
lest  the  sentence  of  condemnation  go  forth  against 
you. 

Father  of  spirits,  take  the  heart  in  hand  that  is 
too  hard  for  my  weakness.  Do  not  thou  end,  though 
I  have  done.  A  word  from  thy  effectual  power  will 
do  the  work.  O  thou,  that  hast  the  key  of  David, 
that  openest  and  no  man  shutteth,  open  thou  this 
heart,  as  tliou  didst  Lydia's,  and  let  the  King  of 
glory  enter  in,  and  make  this  soul  thy  captive.    Let 


190  ALLEINE'S  ALARM. 

not  the  tempter  harden  him  in  delays ;  let  him  not 
stir  from  this  place,  nor  take  his  eyes  from  these 
lines,  till  he  resolve  to  forego  his  sins,  and  accept 
of  life  on  thy  self-denying  terms.  In  thy  name,  0 
Lord  God,  did  I  go  forth  to  these  labors  ;  in  thy 
name  do  I  close  them.  Let  not  all  the  time  they 
have  cost  be  lost  hours ;  let  not  all  the  thoughts  of 
the  heart,  and  all  the  pains  that  have  been  about 
them,  be  but  lost  labor.  Lord,  put  thy  hand  upon 
the  heart  of  this  reader,  and  send  thy  Spirit,  as  once 
thou  didst  Philip  to  join  himself  to  the  chariot  of 
the  eunuch  vi^hile  he  was  reading  the  word.  And 
though  I  should  never  know  it  while  I  live,  yet  I 
beseech  thee,  0  Lord  God,  let  it  be  found  at  the 
last  day  that  some  souls  are  converted  by  these 
labors;  and  let  some  be  able  to  stand  forth  and 
say,  that  by  these  persuasions  they  were  won  imto 
thee.  Amen,  Amen.  Let  him  that  readeth  say, 
A7nen. 


THE    END. 


Vs^ 


■i^-**-    ''^-y^^i 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 

THIS 

BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DAI 
STAMPED  BELOW. 

UC  SOUTHED  REGIONAL  UBRARY  FAQUTY 


A    000  988  599    7 


